The Coming of the Seraph - High Heaven
by HaloRecoil
Summary: A retelling of the last arc of Angel Sanctuary. Rosiel didn't just recruit Lucifer to conquer Heaven; but an ancient fallen angel whose long history with the Devil predates his obsession with the Organic Angel. OC/Lucifer/Alexiel
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:** _Angel Sanctuary is owned solely by Kaori Yuki.

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Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 1

†

Silence had fallen over Lucifer's castle, and the atmosphere was left eerie and suffocating; the only audible sound was the hasty tapping of shoes on dark carmine runners. The Satan of Pride was sprinting through the halls, trying to clear it's head as it drew closer to the aura that had summoned it. Belial frantically threw open the enormous doors to the castle throne room with unimaginable ease and clear blue eyes peered into the shadows of the eviscerated room. A hole had been ripped into the high ceiling that allowed spectral white moonlight to pool amidst the rubble and broken elegance of the recently destroyed chamber. With the collision of the celestial layers, Belial had not had the time to summon up enough astral power to rebuild the room. So it waited to seat a king who had been missing for countless millennium.

"Lucifer-sama...?" The tall silhouette of the former Morningstar stood in the annihilated remains of his throne room. The thin scowl cut into his features only deepened as dark gray eyes fell on Pride; the indifference in them set Belial ablaze and it trembled with anticipation of it's master's words.

"I trust the rest of my castle isn't in this condition...Belial." The man sneered as a small gasp of satisfaction broke through Hatter's unpainted lips. Lucifer set his empty gaze on the crushed stone edifices that once decorated the walls, admittedly there were more important things for him to concern himself with. But the sight of his palace in this state had been unexpectedly infuriating.

"Everything else had been tended to, One's Lord." Mad Hatter sighed, the heavy contempt in his voice still lingered across it's genderless body. Every fiber of Belial's being urged it to step forward, longing to be closer to the one it considered it's personal God; but it would never show such disrespect.

"Lucifer-sama?" The jester swallowed hard as steel colored eyes swept back over it, the palpable loathing emanating from those eyes drove the Alcorn into a pleasurable madness. Silently the King of Darkness strode past the Satan; who trailed behind his sweeping black cape, obscuring his tall lean body from it's hungry blue eyes.

"Where is she?" Lucifer shot the question behind him, and he didn't bother to look upon the fallen abomination at his heels. The Mad Hatter stopped, loose orange curls tipped to one side; it silently considered for a moment which of the few females might be in question. It then wondered who had told him she was here, but Belial sensed that he might have known all along. A gloved hand pointed past Hell's King, making him aware of an aura so long forgotten and familiar that the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He followed the presence deep into the castle, snuffing out his own in favor of remaining undetected by the rest of his court. Her ancient and malevolent celestial energy pulled the Devil closer, until a painted white door stood in his way. Lucifer frowned as the acrid smell of human hospitals burned his nose, and he could feel her energy snaking its way around his throat. A callous simper appeared on Lucifer's features as the noose of her aura tightened, he had to wonder if she recognized him. After all- this body, as perfect of a copy as it was, was only a replication brought into existence by the Inorganic Angel waiting for him in Heaven. Rosiel had been the one to demand he return to Hell and find her; and despite his subservience, the man had voiced his displeasure against the idea of bringing her along. He'd learned that she'd been branded Fallen, that she had gone insane; and if that was true then her company would be more trouble than he wanted. Smothering the last of his hesitation, Lucifer pushed the door open, casting hard florescent light across his vision. The room was sparse and white, decorated with a single empty black velvet cathedra chair in the center that was surrounded by modern medical equipment. At the foot of the chair a woman was twisted in agony on the floor, tangled in long cobalt blue hair that was soaked in the bitter liquid that had ruptured from the bag on the overturned IV stand. With her back arched painfully off the floor she was screaming, but it was a dry and painful noise that gave way to shallow gasps as she clawed at the hypodermic needle in her arm. Belial rushed past Lucifer, untangling the mass of dark hair from around her neck, it tipped the angel's head back to allow the woman to breathe. Her body glistened with cold sweat and her wide unfocused eyes revealed broken blood vessels in one eye. Lucifer's scowl darkened, he hadn't expected to find her at the apex of withdrawal, forced off the strongest anesthesia in Creation. She had been a prisoner in this pit, and he didn't have to wonder anymore why she never sought him out.

"Azreal..." The weight of her name put a halt to the woman's spasms; and he silently cursed the fact that eons of chemical comatose hadn't left her brain dead. A sensation shuddered through the Demon Lord as her eyes met his and the air caught in his chest. It had been such a long time, and he'd become so engrossed with his infatuation with Alexiel; but he hadn't forgotten the way light flickered across those pale silver eyes. The wide black pools of her pupils narrowed into pinholes as she focused on him, she twisted harder in the Satan's arms, screeching weakly as unconsciousness made her go limp.

"Why is she like this?" Furious gray eyes darted to Belial, who scooped up the catatonic woman in it's arms before standing.

"It was a punishment that Heaven was once very fond of once, they would seal the astral powers of their Fallen and cast them over the skies of Hell. A very literal fall from grace." The jester shivered as Lucifer's eyes narrowed, he was silently expecting more; and Hatter had no desire to deny him. "One was fortunate enough to reach her before her collision, but she was not the woman she was before the First War. She was delirious and violent, demanding to see you and taking out most of the royal guard in the process of reaching the throne room. But One's Lord was already gone and One feared what Azreal might be capable of. So she has been asleep, waiting for your return." Belial glanced at the woman, hiding the smile smeared across it's features. With a silent nod, the Satan vacated the room, taking Azreal to sleep off the waning narcotics in her system. Lucifer's eyes glanced at the ornate chair used to house the sleeping body of the fallen angel. He had expected this reunion to be violent, but something like relief swept through him; maybe her long sleep would make it easier to seduce her to idea of working with him.

†

Like needles, the soft bed beneath her felt like pinpricks that multiplied into an unimaginable torment that was only made infinitely worse by the inability to move her limbs to react to so much pain. Azreal could hear a voice amongst the torture of awareness, it offered vacant words that couldn't process in the miasma wrapped around her head. A pained cry stopped short in her throat as what little energy she possessed slipped away. Whatever illusion of sleep that had washed over Azreal's agonized slumber was broken at the notion of slipping and falling, but rather than that expected kick back to reality she felt herself slip deeper into the pitch black world around her. Silver eyes fluttered open to a world of turbulent charcoal storm clouds, lightning snapped loudly as it jumped from point to point amongst the clouds. Above her a trail of long incandescent white feathers marked her descent from Heaven. She could only agitate the two sets of wings on her back as her fingers struggled to break the thin silver chain wrapped tightly around her neck; sealing her astral powers and ensuring zero chance of survival when she'd collide into the forsaken plains of Hell. She gasped for air in the thin atmosphere, choking on the growing smell of sulfur; her eyes squeezed shut as she screamed. Opening them again to find herself in the decorated expanse of Lucifer's throne room, her hands covered in blood. She stormed forward, spitting fury at the calm expressionless face carved into the opposing wall. It stayed silent and she tore away the bandage on her chest, showing him the newly blackened skin of the brand burned clean over her heart. White hot pain exploded on her chest and she collapsed on all fours, heaving as the stench of charred flesh filled her lungs.

"Lu-cif-" The sob was hardly recognizable, heavy from the sleep her body was in; she cursed him over and over, demanding to know where he was. The world went dark after that, every agonizing second passed like hours until the black was painted white and _his_ voice called out her name. Pale eyes cracked open suddenly, horrific dreams giving way to an unfamiliar lace canopy. It was minutes before she dared to sit up; reading the space around her she noted that she was alone, in a faded rose painted room. The delicate white furnishing and creamy lace canopy made for an extremely feminine setting, but the single picture window gave her a chilling view of the barren wasteland of Sheol. She sat up and moved her legs towards the edge of the bed; every strand of her limber musculature was aching and the weight of her hair was uncomfortable. Azreal ran a hand across the ugly bruised skin that encompassed most of her forearm, the skin was tender and vague flashes of a gloved hand removing the twisted intravenous device shuddered through her. The former angel dared to stretch her legs, cringing as the tendons cried out in misery. Standing came naturally for just a second, before searing agony crumpled her to the floor. She cursed loudly as the muscles in her calves and thighs constricted painfully.

"One is surprised to see that you have feeling in your legs already." The painted face of a jester appeared above her, extending a black velvet glove and wearing an old fashioned black suit; a wine colored ruffled cravat served as the only hint of color on the Mad Hatter's attire.

"Belial..." Azreal spat, recognizing the Satan even under the white makeup. "Get away from me." The woman rose to her feet, using the nearby dresser for support.

"Please, One calls Oneself Mad Hatter now." Pride went on, unaffected by the scorn in Azreal's words. "One is genuinely surprised, it had been sometime since your last dose of anesthesia. When Lucifer-sama found you in the throws of withdrawal- Oh yes, One's Lord had finally returned." Belial grinned, black lips curling in an almost feline manner. It's eyes crinkled happily as it observed the nervous expression that paled the woman's features.

"His Majesty has requested an audience with you. If you like, One can prepare a bath and change of clothing before you meet with him." The jester didn't wait for confirmation and with a loud snap of it's long gloved fingers the sound of running water started in another room. "One can't help but wonder why One chose that dress." Hatter eyed the modest black dress with distaste, turning on a heel and vanishing through a newly created doorway. Azreal's stomach knotted itself as his name rang bells in her ears.

"I...I don't want to meet with him." The ex-angel stammered, and she frowned as her objection remained ignored. In the other room, Belial's voice had taken on a sing-song quality as it searched for something presentable for the woman to wear.

"Azreal is much too tall." The sound of clothing being torn from racks came from the open doorway. "Her breasts couldn't hope to fill something so revealing." Azreal moved into the bathroom, unfazed by the Satan's statement and lured by the sweet smell of blue roses. The freestanding clawed tub was filled with steaming hot water, its surface generously coated with blue flower petals that already overwhelmed the room with their perfume. Azreal sat at the edge, skimming her fingertips through the water.

"Do you remember those?" Belial was suddenly in the bathroom, pulling the the woman's attention from her thoughts. She nodded and grunted quietly. How could she be allowed to forget? They had always been a gift, their unnatural and remarkable indigo color was flatteringly similar to her own cerulean hair.

"They don't grow in Paradise anymore, but here in Sheol they thrive off Lucifer-sama's energy." Bright blue eyes gleamed happily in a smile that it reserved only for its King and Master.

"You haven't changed." The former angel's frown deepened. "Still lusting over him. You are truly vile." Her belittlement was met with another catlike grin, and a throaty laughter that ended with a long sigh.

"Ancient evils like _us_ will never change. Its expected of creatures like you and One." Belial set down the long black garment in its hands, tipping off it's tall hat as it bowed. "One will return after your bath. One has many things to tell you, after all it has been many many eons since you last stalked around bitterly." Belial was gone before the gibe could hit home, but Azreal hadn't gone past the length of time she'd been under. She felt her stomach roll, and in the panic her throat seized and she suffocated on the truth of just how long it had been.

†

Lucifer had secluded himself from the rest of his court in his castle apartments; choosing the tall leather seats of the sitting room to simmer the irritation that roiled beneath the expressionless mask of his perfectly sculpted features. He needed to see her, but Belial said she didn't feel the same way. That was expected though, Azreal was as obstinate as ever, but it was enough to put him in a foul mood. A lifetime of sleep had apparently not changed anything, and he wondered when she would start beating down his door with the intent to kill him. The Dark King's spiteful thoughts continued as he lounged on the black leather, and soon enough he turned to pacing; which in turn led him to the room Belial had set aside for Azreal. He'd been generous so far; he allowed her time to sleep off the drugs in her system, and had ordered Belial to clean her up and explain the current turmoil Creation was facing. But he was not going to allow her to think she held the upper hand in his castle, if she wouldn't come to him, then the opposite would have to do. Lucifer knocked on the black door, heavy and demanding; it was promptly met by the Satan of Pride, who stiffened at his unexpected presence.

"Out." It was a simple command, that the jester immediately obeyed, noiselessly slipping through the door; Belial hid it's smile beneath the rim of it's hat. Hatter couldn't deny it's curiosity; after all, these two were old associates, maybe even friends. They could shape the outcome of this war if they so pleased, and if they could do it by working together then there would virtually no stopping them. Lucifer felt the corners of his lips tug into a familiar smirk as he shut the door behind him, he found her apprehensive figure between the lace canopy. Azreal hugged herself, trying to hide the exposed back of her dress; she glanced behind quickly and felt an icy chill run down her back. She snapped her head away, preparing herself to come face to face with Lucifer. How long had it been? Belial had tried to fill a gap tens-of-thousands of years long, but it had focused mainly on the the recent events. Heaven and Hell had crashed into one another, both sides were preparing for war, and a young man claiming to be the Messiah was tearing his way across Heaven; looking for the woman he loved. Lucifer rounded the bed, and leaned against the post, he allowed his steel eyes to pass over her agitated figure.

"Azreal." The Devil couldn't help but cast a wry smile at what the Satan had dressed her in; it was black silk, backless and sported a plunging thinly laced covered neckline that exposed the flat stretch of pale flesh between her breasts. It was indecent and enticing on someone as ancient as she was. Beneath the charcoal lace that covered her chest, neck, and arms he caught a glimpse of the brand on her chest. It was the stigma of the inverted cross, the mark given to the most wicked of offenders; sinners of unforgivable depravity. She stayed silent, but her thin brows pinched together as she glared at the wall, ignoring him. She expected to be chilled by his immeasurable aura, she always had been; but it was grazing its way along the divots of her spine, she shivered at its softness.

"Did you have a nice sleep?" Lucifer crossed his arms as he earned the reaction he'd been hoping for; Azreal's features twisted furiously, her lips curled over her teeth as she stood and faced him.

"Don't patronize me, you bastard!" The fallen angel hissed, restraining herself against killing him on the spot. Lucifer sighed, he knew better than to provoke her, but there was something so gratifying about being cruel to her.

"So, no?" He watched her eyes narrow in scorn, and he held onto to that malevolence in the long minutes of silence that filled the space between them. Azreal found the tattoo over his left eye, it was fitting and it was clear then that he was not the same man she'd known the last time they'd seen each other. But he looked as much like himself as ever, the sharp cut of his features, a thin straight nose, and those piercing smoke gray eyes; but it was the cool smirk on his thin lips that nearly sent her into a fit of hysterics.

"What do you want?" Azreal averted her eyes, she couldn't hold that gaze any longer; a sick feeling washed over her. That smile was a torture that plagued decades of madness, it was as cold and frightening now as it had been inside her head.

"I-" His voice sent an impulse of fury through her system.

"Do you have _any_ idea how long I've been asleep?!" The fallen woman shrieked. "Why keep me like that for so long? And why would you suddenly wake me up with no other purpose than to antagonize me?! Haven't you done enough...?" She lost her voice, supporting herself against a white nightstand as her chest tightened and lost her breath to gasps. She hid her face in her hands, silently wishing him away, but he stayed. Not flinching when she flung the vase of blue roses off the nightstand; it shattered against a wall, soaking the room with their pleasant smell.

"I want your help." Lucifer said cautiously, he had waited until her breathing slowed and he caught the glare she threw him with a slight smile.

"You don't deserve my help." Her retort was crisp and bitter, and for a moment he was pulled back to a conversation they'd had eons ago. She turned to face him, taking the bait he'd set with his words. The Dark King nodded in agreement of her statement, but didn't acknowledged it further.

"Belial told you that Creation is on the brink of war?" Gray eyes shifted to see her nod. "Our Father is sleeping still, this is our chance to slip into Etemenanki."

"That's what you want?" Thin blue brows pinched together in annoyance. "Do you realize what you're asking? The only way you could force-" Silver eyes widened in realization and she stared at him in disbelief.

"The Grand Cross..." Lucifer flashed a smile for the briefest of moments. He'd forgotten just how brilliant she was, having been his adjutant in Heaven had given her a glimpse of how he thought things out. But even with that understanding, she couldn't fathom how desperate he must have been to see God dead.

"You can't be serious. The Council isn't just going to open the door for you." Azreal shook her head, she was well aware of what he was implying, but the thought knotted her insides.

"That is why I need you. You were their guardian, you were given enough power to protect them. And its more than enough to kill them." Azreal crossed the room with a bitter laugh, she was well aware of what he was doing. They were masters of the battlefield, and between them she was the better soldier; it was the only thing he was content to let her have over him.

"That doesn't mean you aren't capable of murdering them yourself." The woman affirmed, she stood in front of the large window; silver eyes scrutinized the jagged terrain of Lucifer's kingdom. Sheol's eerie white sun had been eclipsed into nightfall, but the ring of wispy white light was just enough to illuminate the 7th Hell. The only sign of life against the stark black earth was a colossal labyrinth, vibrant green hedges painted the immediate surrounding area, and stark white walls clearly marked where the Devil's castle grounds ended and the vast nothingness of his kingdom began.

"Then you'll remain a prisoner in my castle, We'll discuss your position in my court when I return." Lucifer told himself to leave then, but his storm cloud eyes fixated on her back. The span of exposed fair skin was obscured only by a stream of straight cobalt hair that was cut off at the knees. Azreal lacked the exaggerated feminine form he found so enticing, but none of that was to say that she wasn't a magnificent example of what the Creator was capable of. She was a willowy build, deceptively strong but there was something about her silhouette that had never caught his attention like this before. He assumed it was the sight of so much skin, he'd never seen so much of her and for a moment he could imagine more. But Alexiel... Alexiel needed his attention more; or rather he wanted her to have it.

"Do you intend to see it through to the end?" She turned to stare him down, eyes narrowed. He nodded once, crushing the small smile before it broke the expressionless mask of his features.

"Good." Azreal kept her expression blank, clenching her fists as he closed the distance between them.

"Will you help me?" Lucifer's fingertips found the edge of her jaw and he traced the line across her chin.

"Yes." She whispered, pushing his hand away without meeting his eyes. "But if you lose your resolve to end Him, then I will kill you myself."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." The man shrugged a shoulder, "Anything else?"

"I want my sword. Which for now I'll assume is in Heaven. And..." Azreal frowned, crossing her arms over the deep neckline of her dress. "I want a change of clothing, this is embarrassing." Lucifer felt a chuckle deep in his chest but only nodded as he exited the room. Belial stood attentively near the door, bowing its head as Lucifer shut the door.

"We're leaving, give her something more suitable to wear and bring her to the throne room when she's ready." Hell's lord didn't acknowledge the Mad Hatter as he gave the order and continued in silence to his throne room. With a single gesture he resurrected the pile of black wood that had once been his throne. It splintered together again, taking the shape of thick pillars carved with demonic beasts and suffering angels; he took a seat as the wood took on a polished gleam and waited.

†

"This is hardly an improvement, Mad Hatter." Azreal huffed, crossing her arms in indignation. Belial offered another feline grin, once again delighted with itself and the attire it had chosen for the fallen angel. A black corset with polished silver military style buttons and straps, that fit well on Azreal's figure and it was paired with tight black shorts that barely extended to the length of her palms.

"One respectfully disagrees." Belial knelt before the woman making and adjustment to the fit of thigh-high leather black boots that clung to her long limbs. The Satan stood, and nodded in approval as it produced one last article of clothing a black bolero with long sleeves and a leather latch to connect the short jacket.

"Perfect. You wear leather well." Hatter replaced its D'orsay tophat and beckoned the woman to a full-length mirror to allow her to appraise herself.

"Let's just get this over with. Take me to him already." Azreal snapped, turning away from the mirror to head through the door. She followed Belial in silence, traversing through several hallways and stairwells before the doors came into view. Black wood framed heavy gold doors at least 20 feet high. Numerous scenes were cast into the cold metal, depicting demons and angels at war. Belial opened the doors with no effort, its eyes catching a final glimpse of its king. For a long moment they said nothing as Azreal approached the throne, silver eyes sweeping over the broken room.

"All this happened when the layers collided?" Her voice echoed into the vast ceiling, stepping carefully over the obstacles in her tall heels.

"I have my doubts." Lucifer replied absently, Belial had told him how Abaddon had escaped his chains and assisted the princess of Anagura in escaping with Mudou Setsuna, but Azreal had no need to know any of that.

"I'll need a weapon until I can reclaim Tenkahane." She stopped at the base of the platform, shifting her weight as she considered what he might offer her.

"It'll be yours when we cross over into Heaven's territory. Rosiel claims that its waiting for you." Lucifer stood, and descended the dais slowly, his eyes never gravitating from hers.

"Rosiel? What is he doing aiding you?" Azreal couldn't help but wonder what highest ranking angel was doing conspiring with the devil.

"He isn't the Rosiel you probable remember. He's become nothing short of a disgusting monstrosity." Lucifer shook his head. "Now come, we'll have time to discuss the past while he wait for him." He offered a hand that she took with reluctance, a pool of tangible shadows blotted out the moonlight at their feet.

"Close your eyes, the sensation can be a little overwhelming." Lucifer advised as the darkness at his command enveloped them.

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**Afterthoughts**

Thank you everyone for lovely reviews and all the follows and favs. I'm so very grateful for each of you!


	2. Chapter 2

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 2

†

"Once lost, an angel can never grow back his wings." Uriel had taken to nervously tapping his foot as he observed the operation on Setsuna's eye progress to its final stage. Michael opened his mouth to protest, visibly fuming when the Earth Angel continued without pause. "He's very weak right now, eventually the remaining wing will wither into the astral planes. He needs to rest if he has any hope of spiritually surviving this."

"I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT THAT GOD-DAMN KID!" Michael roared, finally reaching his boiling point. "I'M WORRIED ABOUT THESE FUCKS! DO YOU HEAR ME URIEL?!" The Angel of Fire and War snapped his head in the direction of the group of heavily armed angels stowing away on Uriel's merkaba. He jumped up and stomped towards the contingent, many of the young warriors didn't feign bravery in the presence of the temperamental redhead.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING HERE?!" Michael pointed, sharp teal eyes narrowed at the familiar young blonde leading the angels. "You little shits are guerrillas! Aren't you!?"

"Allow me to explain Michael." Uriel stood and approached the Great Powers. "You remember Zaphkiel? The Great Thrones? It was his dying wish to see Sevi's political tyranny overthrown. To do this, I've sought an alliance with the underground organization, the Anima Mundi." Michael grunted in disapproval, frowning as his head tilted back to look at his elemental brother. The difference in height was staggering, but at 6' 10'' it was an effect Uriel had on practically everyone.

"The plan was for them to wait for my signal." The sable-skinned angel said flatly, his eyes darted down to meet Michael's. "However... Our plans were disrupted somewhat by some visitors." The lesser angels present marveled at Uriel's stoic sarcasm in the face of the great Michael.

"Well isn't that just too fucking bad! Go complain to the mighty Messiah or better yet, piss off!" Michael snapped as he stormed back across the room, a crimson patent leather jacket dragged slightly in his wake.

"Alex... No, the Messiah needs to be taught that he cannot run away forever. Something you know well, Michael." Uriel stepped carefully over his words, he didn't want to risk infuriating the Fire Angel; but it was a point well made. Michael ground his teeth together, and leaned back into his arms before clicking his tongue in disinterest. Minutes of silence weighed on the group until Mudou Setsuna was wheeled back into the main room. Alexiel's Messiah groaned; the thick gauze taped over his right eye did nothing to ease the relentless itching that the new eye suffered him. Setsuna gripped the armrests of his chair until the feeling ebbed away; then he glanced around the room, settling his one eye on the young blonde angel leading the Anima Mundi; a sharp pang of grief tightened his gut.

"Looks like I'll be employing your assistance against Raziel." Raziel was a vivid reminder of the hole Zaphkiel had left, but the young angel filled it well as he expressed his concern for the human that his former mentor had placed so much faith in.

"For now it would be best if you simply accepted treatment." Uriel advised, as Setsuna recalled that Uriel and Zaphkiel had once known each other. "You need to rest Alex."

"Ezekiel, when you get a chance." Mossy green eyes shifted to an angel standing apart from the others, he nodded as he was addressed. At 6' even, he wasn't nearly as tall as Uriel; but he had a slightly thicker frame and it was evident that it was tight whipcord muscle beneath the navy blue uniform he wore. He crossed the room and crouched down to the teen's eye level.

"Uriel? When... did you gain the ability to speak? You told me you injured your vocal chords." Setsuna's words slurred, he'd never undergone surgery before and had to wonder if talking was always this difficult after. He wanted water, but the medics had denied him; the anesthesia was acting as a painkiller at least until some proper drugs could be acquired.

"Things have certainly been shaken up, thanks to you. I've been forced to rely on something created by the science labs-" The elemental angel unzipped the high collar of his emerald green uniform, revealing a device strapped to his neck; much like the one Setsuna recalled attached to Sevotharte. Or rather, Lailah.

"Look at me Messiah." Ezekiel interrupted, he carefully removed the surgical padding over Setsuna's eye, ordering for more to be ready as he did.

"Who...are you?" The Messiah felt his new eye start to water as the hard light streamed unto his dilated pupil. He was certain that he'd never met this angel before, his features were sharp and his hair was the color of black espresso; it was neatly trimmed to the bottom of his ears and parted to the right.

"My name is Ezekiel, Cherub. Not a Virtue and certainly not Raphael, who should be the one doing follow-up on major surgery." The angel shot a glance at the two elemental angels. "Where is he anyway? Follow my pen, boy." Ezekiel waved a pen past Setsuna's chocolate brown eyes, he tracked it back and forth several times

"That bastard ran off with the Messiah's woman!" Michael barked, he rolled his intensely blue-green eyes as Setsuna turned to glare at him. The Cherub named Ezekiel raised a coffee brown eyebrow, rarely did the Air Angel need to seek out the company of women; but kidnapping seemed absurd. The angel shook his head and clicked on the ballpoint light to test the new eye's dilation.

"Have you been hiding under a rock? How do you have no idea whats going on?" Setsuna blurted sleepily as the angel stood, he gently rubbed at the new eye with the ball of his palm. It did nothing to relieve the irritation.

"I am the bodyguard of the Zodiac Angels. I've been following the situation; but I wasn't aware that Raphael had kidnapped Jibriel." That part had been news he still hadn't processed, he found it hard to swallow that the Great Cherub had awoken claiming to be a human girl named Mudou Sara.

"More importantly, what is your name Messiah? Or is that what you prefer?" Ezekiel curiously eyed the young man, Setsuna blankly gazed into the angel's brilliant aquamarine eyes;

"Setsuna... Mudou Setsuna." The teenage Messiah revealed, he realized quickly that no one had actually asked his name; many of the angels here already knew it, didn't care, or worse... preferred to use _her _name. Ezekiel acknowledged his answer with a small nod.

"The eye is working, I'm not seeing any issues with its functionality." The man said, straightening the navy-blue uniform of the Cherub phylum; decorated with various medals of military duty. "But again, I'm not Raphael. My expertise is limited."

"Thanks." Setsuna leaned his head back, drifting off to sleep again.

†

"The eyes of all the angels in Heaven were able to witness Jibriel-sama's trial. And now they're waiting for action!" Raziel had had enough, sitting around waiting for the Messiah to sleep off the anesthesia from his surgery was unbearable. "We mustn't waste this perfect chance to capture Sevotharte, while the public stands behind us." The others in the room snapped their attention to the young leader as he announced his intentions to invade the White Mansion.

"We will capture the Great Seraphim, Metatron and Sevotharte. He won't slip his arrest again. Messiah, Great Powers Michael-sama, and Ezekiel-sama. Though it may be against your wishes, in fear of our situation, The Anima Mundi will be placing you under arrest." The blonde Thrones was ready for action and there would be no stopping him now.

"Raziel...! Thats completely un-" Uriel started, casting an uneasy eye on the Great Powers, who's eyes narrowed dangerously as he sat up.

"Feh... Alright, I'll let you play your game. My only true enemy is Satan's army anyway." Michael snorted, sliding a thumb over his chin; he'd been itching to get to the battlefield and if all he had to do was stay away from White Mansion, he was happy to do so.

"Not interested." Ezekiel scoffed. "If those are my options, I'd rather just return to the Council. I've had a bad feeling since yesterday, I'd much rather be there until this is over." The Cherub shook his head, blue eyes saturated with uneasiness, he rose from his seat nodded to the Great Powers and headed to the exit.

"Wait, Ezekiel." Uriel followed the Cherub, clamping a dark hand on the man's shoulder. Ezekiel turned with a brow raised, he hadn't expected to find such a desperate look in the Earth Angel's eyes.

"We could use your help. I'll be honest, I'm not sure if Alex and the Anima Mundi will be able to take on the Prime Minister alone." Uriel had immediately noticed that Ezekiel had changed even less than Michael; he'd maintained the image of noble duty in his immaculately starched and pressed blue uniform. The assistance of the 4th seated Cherub, no the keeper of the Zodiac Angels was an asset he couldn't allow to walk out.

"I'm sorry Uriel-sama, truly. But the Council is my first concern, like I said." Ezekiel gave the Earth Angel an apologetic smile, he hated to turn his back on a friend as old as Uriel; but there was tenseness pooling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't shake it and it mounted as the hours passed.

"Is there no way to convince you?" Ezekiel frowned at the elemental angel, he'd hadn't expected Uriel to return, but too see him here with the rebellion confirmed that the Earth Angel hadn't entirely left Heaven behind.

"The Council gave me permission to oversee the surgery. I'm well aware that you used that as a means to get me here. But I'm not staying, this isn't my conflict." The angel narrowed his eyes, as he opened the hatch of the airship. The sudden rush of air left them breathless for a moment, and Uriel's expression hardened as the cold air lashed around.

"This is _our_ conflict Ezekiel, you can't hide behind the Zodiac Angels for much longer." Uriel followed the Cherub onto the deck, he telepathically sent the words for fear of loosing them in the roar of the airship.

"I'm not hiding, not anymore, I'm completely behind the cause Uriel. But things are spinning wildly out of the control, and still He sleeps, even after the crash of the Celestial planes. That is only a promise of more chaos, if even that couldn't wake our Creator." Aquamarine met mossy green and both angels nodded in silent agreement.

"Are you afraid of what is going to come crawling out of Hell?" Uriel had known exactly what had happened when Heaven and Hell had collided. The barrier, God's barrier had been weakened; lesser demons and their like from the upper kingdoms could now easily gain entrance to the Divine Lands; and though their numbers where great, they were still relatively safe from any real threats. The armies of the lower Hells were gathering, waiting for another disaster to completely shatter the boundaries between worlds.

"Not what, but rather who." Ezekiel hadn't admitted that to anyone in a long time and the thought of her churned his stomach sharply.

"She's dead Ezekiel. Michael confirmed it himself... Azreal is dead!" The Earth Angel found himself shaking the Cherub's shoulders, the fear in his eyes was frustrating beyond measure.

"He didn't find a body. And if my sister didn't want to be caught, she wouldn't." Ezekiel flinched as her name hung in the air.

"Alex has been to Sheol, and if she's anywhere its there." The Earth Angel reasoned, unwilling to let the much needed assistance go yet.

"With _him_." Ezekiel's eyes narrowed, adding the words bitterly as he pushed past the guardian of Hades. The Cherub returned to the hanger of the merkaba, pushing past the younger angels crowding the only human.

"Mudou Setsuna." The man approached the Messiah quickly, who had tried his hand at standing.

"Yea...?" The boy glanced over, wobbling a bit as he was distracted from his task. He was quickly leveled by one of the surgical staff.

"When you were in Sheol. Did you meet a woman named Azreal." The question prompted the young Messiah to think for a long moment, he'd met many monsters in the pit of Hell; but none of them had worn that name.

"No. That name isn't familiar." Setsuna shook his head, immediately regretting the action as his head swam and he sunk further into the arms of the men at his side.

"Are you certain? She has dark blue hair and silver eyes." Ezekiel offered, considering that she could easily go by a different name. Setsuna's brows creased in thought, he couldn't recall a single person with features that specific.

"Positive. I didn't see anyone like that." The angel wanted to sigh with relief, but Ezekiel remained unsettled. He turned quickly, leaving without another word. The others fell silent, refusing to offer Setsuna an explanation.

†

"Ezekiel. We did not expect to see you so soon." Malahidael called. "Did you decide against assisting Alexiel's vessel?" His voice was ethereal and low, it felt like throbbing in ones ears. If there was a leader of the Zodiac Council it was him. While not the oldest, he was governor over Aries and his appearance was the most similar to the celestial beings of today. If not for the four arms that bore long talon-like fingers.

"Forgive me Malahidael-sama." Ezekiel swept his bow low, and turned to the other elders in the room. "I'm nervous about the upcoming events. I strongly feel the need to be here."

"As are we, there are many possibilities for the near future, and its impossible to narrow it further at this point. Canbiel of the Aquarius divulged, he shook his head and agitated the faded red-orange feathers of his bird-head so they stood on end for a moment. His body, half-bird half-humanoid was of the first angels brought into creation, and suffered much of God's creative freedom with it. Ezekiel tried to hide his surprise, he'd been with the Council long enough to know that they were rarely as a loss for the future.

"And the trial? How did our Jibriel fair?" Zuriel inquired, looming above the others in the highest loft, his pride still wounded when the Prime Minister demanded to oversee the trial.

"It never ended. Michael and the Messiah crashed into the courthouse, destroying it." Ezekiel sighed, almost smiling at the thought. "Raphael has also apparently taken Jibriel hostage."

"Oh?" Malahidael leaned closer, four gold clawed hands closed tightly around the starry stone globe before him. "Has he? What a strange development."

"We will have to take this into consideration." Gemini's overseer Ambiel spoke through both her heads. Ezekiel admittedly always found it strange that the slightest thing could tip their predictions for the future. How Raphael abducting a girl, that apparently wasn't even really Jibriel, could change the fate of Creation eluded him. He assumed it was for the best and he had no desire to understand the future.

"You may take your leave now Ezekiel. We have much to discuss in private." They spoke in unison, and allowed their guardian to take his leave in silence.

†

"I can't believe they're going to attach Sevi's castle with power like that. Stupid dreamers..." Michael snorted into the communication device around his wrist. The angel plunged his fire sword into the ground and settled down over the remnants of his battlefield. It had been easy pickings, but there had been enough of them to let him and his soldiers cut loose and blow off some steam.

"Agreed. It seems rushed, Setsuna is making things move too quickly." Ezekiel replied, his voice crackled as their connection wavered; he still didn't understand on why Michael insisted on using such old fashion technology in the heat of battle. But suggesting that the Angel of War change habits he'd held for thousands of years was not something anyone was willing to do.

"Who?" Michael absentmindedly blurted out as his teal eyes tracked into the distance, he spotted a Merkaba speeding closer and he frowned, had he ordered more soldiers to the front lines?

"The Messiah, Michael." They spoke often; Raphael always too busy with 'work' and Khamael was too slow to carry on an actual conversation. Ezekiel treated him with respect that wasn't cowering like a feeble child and old enough to understand references to previous wars.

"Oh, is that his name?"

"Yes. Anyway. Do you think he'll come asking for help if things go bad?" Ezekiel had never considered aiding the Messiah, his long service to the Zodiac Angels had left him ready to fight, but uninterested in war.

"I've already decided that I'm not getting into this battle. I'm going home-" Michael froze mid-sentence and he felt impossibly lightheaded. The redhead tilted his head back, again spotting the airship as it passed directly overhead.

"_You're looking well, Michael."_ Why those words decided to run through his mind Michael was unsure, he rarely lingered on his brother; actually he made a conscious effort not too. But that hateful velvet voice curled around his spine like ice cold vines.

"Michael?" Ezekiel raised a brow, this wasn't the first time that the call had been cut and as he leaned in closer to the speaker he was able to make out a gasp and the sudden rustling of clothing.

"Michael? What's wrong?" Ezekiel sat forward, tensing up as his own uneasiness peaked. He fought the wave of nausea that had accompanied the memory of his sister screaming.

"-Brother..." Between the waves of interference the Cherub made out the word and his eyes widened in surprise. He'd heard stories of how the High Power's responded to the mention of his brother, but had never heard of him bringing up the subject.

"What about him, Michael? What about your brother?"

"He's-" The reception in the old watches cut out, and no amount of retrying would connect the line again, and whether it was from bad interception or the Fire Angel's refusal to answer Ezekiel couldn't tell. Aquamarine eyes swept across the black earth of Zebul, for a brief moment he considered returning to fight a war with the Messiah.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

Again, a big thank you to everyone for your support! 3


	3. Chapter 3

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 3

†

"Spare me, Lucifer." Azreal finally snapped, silver eyes narrowed at her companion; he'd finished surmising Alexiel's war against Heaven and had wasted no time in issuing commands to her. Lucifer emphasized her behavior, ordered her to remain silent unless spoken to, and he warned her to remain obedient to him; at least in the presence of the Inorganic Angel. He could deal with her stubbornness in private, but for now Rosiel had to believe that they were in complete agreement.

"This isn't the first time I've dealt with men of rank." Azreal growled, and brushed back strands of dark blue behind her ear. Lucifer narrowed his eyes, it was that sarcastic tone that would ruin their deception.

"Azreal." He closed the space between them with a few quick steps and his gray eyes pierced hers, she scowled in return. "For the time being, you will obey me. I won't have you ruining the one chance we have." Lucifer's chafe tone was warning enough and Azreal nodded, her lips tightened into a line as silence eclipsed the fallen angels.

"You still haven't explained how you came under Rosiel's control." Azreal broke the silence, making a small circle around him; silver eyes flared with curiosity as she watched the back of his shoulders square sharply. Overhead a large airship sank through the clouds, they watched it land with disdain for the Inorganic Angel.

"That story is too long, and even if we had the time... I don't think you'd understand." Lucifer replied, his eyes lingered on the woman. "We'll have to save that for later." He smirked in the way she hated most and Azreal looked away. The airship picked up waves of dust and it took minutes for the particles to settle after the roaring engines died. The woman's eyes narrowed as the Inorganic Angel emerged from the hatch.

"What's happened to him?" She hissed as Rosiel approached, his long pale hair swayed weightlessly in the breeze and a he looked childishly delighted. As he neared, Azreal realized that he was physically younger, by at least a decade. Lucifer remained silent, that was another story that would have to wait. Rosiel paraded closer, his smile stretched into a grin as his eyes darted between his new pets. A few steps behind him a young man in a Cherub blue uniform had his eyes in a stare so cold it turned his expression into ice.

"That took longer than it should have Lucifer." Rosiel's voice had grown strangely feminine, nothing like his old self. Lucifer snaked a hand behind Azreal's back and presented her to the Inorganic Angel.

"She was sleeping." His warm hand settled on the small of her back and she felt his fingers scrape the boning in her corset; it was an unneeded warning.

"Katan, did you hear that?" The Angel of Death was taking a nap as Creation spiraled out of control!" The smile on Rosiel's face grew wider as the old pseudonym resurfaced; sickening the Cherub and the fallen Seraph.

"You remember Rosiel-sama." Hell's king abhorred wasting such a title on the insane angel, but for now it was a mandatory annoyance. "Greet him." Without his signal the woman complied. She tipped forward in a show of dishonest respect and as she stood Rosiel's thin fingers reached out, his long manicured fingers slide down her cheek with feverish warmth. Brilliant gold eyes scrutinized the woman, and he confirmed that this was the one he'd been hoping for.

"Rosiel-sama." Katan was already unhappy that his master had resurrected the Demon Lord, and despite all his secret wishes and expectations Lucifer had proven to be frighteningly obedient. But even the Cherub found himself questioning Rosiel's intentions by the demanding the presence of Azreal. "We should leave now, the White Mansion will take several hours to arrive to if we plan to remain unnoticed." Rosiel released the woman with a laugh, his hesitant lavender shirt whirled around him like a dress and he turned to lead the forsaken angels to the merkaba.

"I can only imagine that you are both aching for blood. There isn't much time, come on then."

†

Rosiel's merkaba was large enough that it allowed Azreal to find an empty room to dwell on the story Lucifer had shared in the hours they had waited for Rosiel's arrival. The Organic Angel had fled Paradise and launched a war against God; siding with the Evil's of the highest plane of Hell. It was no surprise that she had lost, but the punishment they had inflicted on her had been cruel in every sense of the word. Azreal's fingers unconsciously found the scarred flesh on her chest, she traced the inverted cross with a shudder.

"How utterly foolish of them both." Azreal whispered bitterly and considered that Alexiel's latest reincarnation was fighting his way through Heaven for his sister... his lover. Lucifer had prattled on about what a warrior Alexiel had become and Azreal wondered if the Messiah shared her talent. She tangled the thoughts in her head as she watched the slums pass far below. They seemed in an even worse state than she remembered, the already shabby buildings looked like they'd been ripped to pieces, faint shapes of angelic bodies lost in the rubble.

_Its so muuuuch easier..._ The wicked voice that intruded on Azreal's musings was revoltingly familiar, it was her own voice drenched in the madness that had taken her eons ago.

_If you just kill them... they are so weak... _Azreal shrieked as she pressed her hands over her ears, she had suppressed it since her awakening and wanted nothing more to do with it. She slid to the floor, cradling her head in her hands, and gasping for air as the whispers continued.

"Azreal." The former angel jerked her head towards her name, recognizing his voice. She met his gaze and shook at the sight of him; those gray eyes pulled her through centuries of memories.

"Azreal." Lucifer repeated firmly, he frowned at the sight before him. He'd assumed that she no longer suffered her madness, but those frightened silver eyes told him otherwise.

"What...?" Azreal whimpered. She stared at the white ceiling and focused on her control of the voices fighting for dominance in her head. Azreal stood and kept her eyes averted, she'd lost the nerve to answer the questions she expected to follow.

"I have something for you." Lucifer took a cautious step forward, bringing the long shrouded sword in his hands to her attention. Azreal froze as her eyes fell to the sword, her sword and she felt a bolt of unworthiness in the presence of Tenkahane again. She lurched forward, the distance between herself and her blade closed in an instant. Lucifer kept his grip firmly on the ancient sword, he wasn't just going to allow her to take it.

"Give me my sword." Azreal sneered in a soft even tone, and it was far more threatening than a fit of hysteria.

"I want to hear the circumstances of your fall from grace. Tell me and the sword is yours." Lucifer studied the hateful glare that flashed across her silver eyes, they were perfectly merciless.

"Why?" Azreal thrust the sword back into his chest, stalking back to the window.

"Because you, God's Angel of Wisdom should have been the last person to have fallen." Hell's king admitted. "How could someone as righteous as you betray our brethren?"

"Don't you speak to me about righteousness Lucifer!" Azreal took back the space she'd put between them, her finger pressed sharply into his sternum. "You're fall-"

"I want to hear about your rebellion Azreal." Lucifer took her hand, which she immediately snatched away

"It wasn't a rebellion. But I'm sure the official records call it one. I... I just wanted it to stop." Azreal said defeated, she briefly shut her eyes as the nausea settled down. Lucifer felt the question rise in his mind, but knew she would refuse to answer him.

"So many died... Even on the day of the trial there was no clear number. Michael ordered at least a full battalion to its death that day and that isn't counting the civilians that were on campus at the time. Finally he stopped it himself, and Raphael was there for good measure." The woman sighed, condensing the events of that single day was impossible.

"They rushed the trial through the system, the public was so eager to see me on the stand. They had after all, spent a very long time trying to put together a case that wasn't guilt by association."

"What do you mean?" Lucifer arched a brow in honest curiosity.

"The repercussions of your war... no of your rebellion were far worse than anyone could have imagined. I don't even think you knew what would happen..." She straightened suddenly and met his gaze. "If you ignore all of the casualties, the only that happened was that seven high ranking angels turned traitor and worst of all... we lost the Morningstar. And that sent the ranks into a state of paranoia, and that madness began the Inquisition. Mercilessly every single angel regardless of rank underwent an investigation to determine their loyalty to God. Can you even imagine...? There weren't many of us in the higher seats that could satisfy them." She stared at him for several minutes, her expression furious.

"And at the top of their suspect list, anyone left to succeed an office from a rebel angel..."

"So you did take up the 1st chair?" Lucifer crossed his arms, pepper gray eyes focused on her with a small smirk.

"NO!" The woman screamed. "But that didn't matter, I was your 2nd and that was enough to make me a collaborator. After my capture I was painted as a spy for the Rebel Army; and they gave me that horrible name. I was guilty before the trial even started." Azreal's hand went to her chest, memories brought the fire alive again. She turned back to the window, and pressed her forehead against the cool glass. Silver eyes scanned the ground as the cloud cover broke and far below amongst cracked earth and countless bodies sat an unmistakable patch of fiery red hair.

"Its...Michael." Azreal gasped, beckoning Lucifer to the window. A cold frown danced across his face as his gloved hand pressed against the glass; an instant too late it was slapped away.

You didn't!" She screamed, but she already knew that he had sent his twin an open invitation with his own astral signature

"If Michael-"

"He won't." The Devil interjected, a pleased smile set in his features. He lifted Tenkahane back into his hands and gingerly offered it back to its rightful owner. She took it and tore the old canvas off, she smiled at the reflective surface of the silver sword tinged a pale and faded green with the ether that it had been tempered from. The light overhead followed the hard straight edges of the long sword. It was nearly as tall as her shoulders and far heavier because of the ether, the densest and strongest metal next to Angel Crystal. She gripped the hilt, and swung the blade with ease that made it whistle as it sliced the air.

†

"You're surprisingly agreeable since waking up." Lucifer returned an hour later, now clad in light black armor; he carried several pieces of the same for his companion.

"I was almost worried that after our last meeting, all those years ago- that your would have put that sword through my head." Lucifer muttered darkly as he worked a black strap around her neck, it had two bars of brushed steel that molded comfortably to her neck; it matched his and Azreal knew they had been Rosiel's idea of collars for his new pets.

"I don't need too win a battle you already lost." She bristled as he lightly took her arm to his shoulder. His hands strapped a shiny obsidian spaulder across her left shoulder; and he lingered on the leather below her bust. "You asked for my help, and I am helping." Her eyes fell to his bare right shoulder; the black cross tattoo served as another mark of Rosiel's ownership.

"I always could depend on you." Lucifer sighed, and he suddenly pushed her back to the nearest wall; too fast to allow her the chance to react. "But I know you better than that Azreal. There is nothing but selfish ambition driving you, as it always has." She was trapped beneath him against the wall, his hands firmly at her waist. His thumbs rolled over her hips and under the thin material of her shorts he could feel the sharp bones of her pelvis.

"You think you're the only one who wants our Creator dead? I'm here because our goals are the same. Because He destroyed the greatness we achieved." Azreal responded with a silver glare and Lucifer absorbed it with a satisfied sigh.

"You involved me this time, and I am willing you help you..." The woman shifted her gaze downward. "Unlike back then. When you left me...out of everything."

†

The loud knock was a startling intrusion to the 2nd Seraph's peaceful evening, and a glance at the faceless wall clock told her it was too late for guests. Azrael stood and tied down the champagne colored silk robe as she made her way to the door. She was greeted by a nearly unconscious Morningstar, and Lucifel collapsed into her arms; silently elated that he had managed to reach her in his condition.

"What are you doing?" Azrael pleaded as his weight bore on her and she struggled to prop up her taller comrade. She led her commanding officer to a nearby couch, an abnormal warmth spread over her shoulder and as she seated him she saw and smelled the heavy iron blood.

"You're bleeding?!" She exclaimed loudly as Lucifel's head tipped back onto the head of the couch. She ordered him to stay put as she disappeared into another room of her spacious apartment.

_That bitch..._ The Great Seraph growled as he recalled his encounter with the teenage Organic Angel. The rumors that circulated made Alexiel out to be a cold and empty thing, but the complete opposite was true. For the first time in centuries Lucifel had found himself completely baffled, not only had she managed to wrestle away his saber and overcome the pain of breaking her knee; she had almost landed a deadly blow against him. She was indeed a woman worth tainting, but now he wasn't sure if that would be enough. _She was gorgeous...and_ Lucifel pictured her naked form, gripping the gilded sword that God Himself had presented to His Morningstar. _...mine..._

"How did this happen?" Azrael returned with a medical kit, and seated herself across from him on the wooden coffee table. He replied with silence and through his open eye he watched his lieutenant struggle with frustration. He looked around the apartment he had never been in, it was sparse and decorated primarily for functionality. White walls, grey wood, and eggshell colored furnishings, the only color came from a glass vase that housed a dozen blue roses.

"I don't think I can do this Lucifel." Only in public did either of them bother with honorifics; they'd gone through the same grueling process of becoming Seraph together, they were well beyond formalities. "You should have Belial-sama look at it, or any other trained Virtue. What about Bal-san?"

"Azrael. Please." The woman blinked; _please?_ It was the closest to begging she could ever remember him coming to. Azrael sighed and worked in silence to disinfect and carefully rub a salve that stopped the bleeding, she avoided his gaze as she taped down the final piece of gauze.

"I suppose that's it. Stopping the bleeding was the hardest part." She wiped her hands mostly clean on a rag, ignoring the bloodstains on her white camisole.

"Will you tell me who did this to you now?" The woman frowned at his silence, and rubbed at her temples; she tried to meet his eyes to make him understand how important it was that this crime not go unpunished. But she realized as she spoke that his eyes where staring at her hair. She had- since joining the academy, worn it in a tight bun that left her long fringe free. But now it was loose and he could see every cobalt strand of collarbone length hair illuminated by the overhead light.

"Fine. Its late-"

"I'm done Azrael." Lucifel interrupted, one cold eye fixed firmly on her reaction. Azrael raised a brow and waited for an explanation that he wasn't going to give.

"Done with what?" His subordinate finally sighed, she was accustomed to the mysterious way he chose to speak sometimes; but there was something hiding behind that somber tone that was hard to pin down. She was only certain that it was bothering him and that it was feeling far too foreign for him to express.

"Are you happy? With what the Creator has given you? Lucifel leaned forward, and felt the heady rush of blood loss as it blurred his vision.

"I have nothing to be unhappy about. I sit in the 2nd chair of the Seraph phylum and we're the first to ever hold office in this rank." Azrael replied, she ignored the fact that she owed her rank to him otherwise her gender would have put her in the lower seats beside the handful of other women who'd earned the title of Seraph.

"But you abandoned the role God gave you in exchange for all those things." Lucifel reminded her, and he regretted his word choice instantly.

"I didn't abandon the Council! I have simply taken a leave to serve beneath you. I will return when you no longer need me." The Angel of Wisdom crossed her arms, it was ridiculous that Ezekiel had the freedom to pursue his career without upsetting anyone.

"And if I wanted you forever?" The Morningstar watched the woman struggle with herself, uncertain if she was upset.

"Don't." She settled with a frown. "But you never answered my question. What are you done with?" Lucifel seemed to be enjoying himself, one eye darted back and forth between her features. But, for once he didn't look past or through her, he took in every detail the woman he saw more often than his own twin. The deep ocean blue color of her hair was a heavy contrast to her pale silver eyes, but one could almost miss the gentle shimmer behind thick eyelashes and narrow eyes. They weren't angry, but they had grown out of girlish wideness; she had been trained to see, to hunt, to kill.

_I never noticed..._ The Great Seraph found himself thinking that more and more as he passed over her other features. Pale coral lips, high cheek bones, and a narrow heart-shaped face cast from cool porcelain.

"Lucifel..." Azrael whispered after minutes of silence, he finally met her gaze and she saw it beneath his icy gray eyes; he was unsettled and burning alive in the wake of something he could not understand.

"I'm tired of this facade. There will not be peace forever." Lucifel rose from the couch, followed closely by his 2nd.

"What do you mean?" Azrael understood the ominous statement, but whatever intentions he had with those words were unclear. The feeling that he was planning something behind her back washed over her. He didn't respond, choosing to see himself out.

"Tomorrow then Azrael." Lucifel nodded before shutting the door behind him, she was unsure how long she'd stood staring at the door, but the blood had dried and started flaking. She cleaned off beneath the shower in a daze and when the water finally turned cold she went to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 4

†

"IF YOU GOT ANYTHING IMPORTANT YOU NEED TO SAY TO YOUR FUCKING SISTER YOU'D BETTER MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE PARLIAMENT CAMPUS BEFORE I FUCKING CLEAVE HER IN TWO!" Michael bellowed into the phone, it was Ezekiel's first and only warning that something was wrong. The Angel of Logic responded calmly, he assumed that his twin had somehow upset the Fire Angel again. Their altercations had grown extremely dangerous since the War, but it had never come to threatening death. He didn't want to know what had happened this time, it was becoming harder and harder to choose between his sister and an old friend. Michael, who had always been difficult had grown dangerously ferocious since the First War and Azrael had slipped into a trance, her focus was miles away on something she couldn't quite come to terms with. Regardless, Ezekiel had found himself in Lakiah, finding the central city of the upper Heavens in complete shambles; a row of Powers preventing anyone entrance to the capitol building.

"What's going on?" Ezekiel caught the attention of the first angel in uniform, who turned to him with tears in her eyes.

"She just suddenly went completely insane! She was screaming at HIM..." The woman covered her mouth from the view of anyone but Ezekiel and mouthed the name of the Great Rebel in silence. "But there wasn't anyone there!" The exchange was cut short as an explosion consumed the building's entrance, in the succeeding expulsion of smoke a lone figure was thrown clear into the plaza. Azrael cried out as her body slammed into the pavement, she stood up quickly and revealed the true horror of her actions. A once immaculate white uniform under the rule of Prime Minister Sevotharte had been stained with the blood of countless angels, various degrees of crimson water saturated into her clothing, skin, and hair. She was breathing heavily and slouched in exhaustion, Azreal tightened her grip on the sword and took precarious steps forward as a pillar of white hot fire swirled towards her. Directed and fueled by the Elemental Angel of Air, the angel raised her blade in a two handed defensive position as the fire collided with a barrier of invisible force. She collapsed to her knees as Michael closed in on her, his white wings stretched as he wrapped a hand around her neck. He was in slick black pants and boots, his shirt had long since burnt off and the fingerless gloves stunk of burnt leather. In the wake of the their battle, Michael had suffered little damage, superficial cuts and burns from the intensity of Azrael's electrical astral power. Raphael was speaking quickly into his cell phone as he landed beside the General of War; he tore away the remains of the lower half of his blood soaked shirt and healed the deep laceration on his abdomen. While not nearly as adept at physical combat as the Great One of Powers, Raphael's elemental powers in conjunction with Michael's Fire was a force to be reckoned with, and had been a critical asset in ending the First War.

"Too fucking slow, bitch." Michael snarled as his fingers threatened to crush her windpipe, the woman in his grasp abandoned her sword and clawed at Michael's arm.

"Mika-chan, let her go. Sevotharte wants her brought in alive." Raphael sighed, tucking the phone back into his blue suit pants. Michael clenched his jaw in silent fury and threw her back with such force that her head cracked against the hard glittering concrete of the campus commons. Azrael's vision swam as a blurred figure came into view; its hair was ink black and though his features were shrouded from view, she knew he was wearing a pleased little smile.

"Lucifer..." She choked on the words as she was forced to her feet, meeting a sharp slap to the face that jolted her back to reality; aquamarine eyes glared down at her, flared with fury.

"No, sister." Ezekiel spat. "How could you?!"

"Get back Ezekiel." Michael warned, as Raphael healed the cracked skin and bone at the back of her skull, he glared daggers at the Fire Angel for wasting his time with healing her. The disorientation faded quickly with the healing and Azrael started a new attempt to free herself. The Elemental Angels wrestled with her for several minutes, she was slick with blood and screaming his name again.

"LUCIFER!" Silver eyes were focused on the crowd of onlookers, he was another face in the crowd, and then another and another; but the angels around him remained ignorant of his presence. "CAN'T YOU SEE HIM!?" Her struggles started anew and she escaped Raphael's grasp as he reached inside his pocket. Before she could slip free from Michael the Air angel emptied a syringe into her arm. The effective sedative worked almost immediately and she slumped limply in their arms.

†

For a moment her silver eyes hesitated to open, she could hear the echoing bursts of iron and the hum of the engines that kept the Mid-Air Passage floating above the sea of black acid. Footsteps of patrolling guards and the shouting of inmates intermingled with steady breathing that wasn't her own. The realization that she wasn't alone sent a wretched fear through her and she sat up in a flash. The dried blood on her uniform held the stench of copper and itched to no end, but she kept her focus on the figure leaning casually against the opposite wall of her small cell.

_**You're finally awake...**_ He said it directly in her head, that deep voice weighing over her as she screamed. Azrael scooted herself to the opposite end of the cell, away from _him_.

"Lucifer..." She acknowledged with a small sob, curled into a ball as his presence became clear. Hidden in the darkness of the cell, the woman was only able to see the edge of his lips tug into a smile. He straightened up, and took a step closer into the moonlight filtering through the small window. It was not Lucifer watching her with hunger in his eyes, but the delusions of her insanity hadn't broken yet.

_**Whats wrong, Azrael...?**_ He knelt before her, and reached to tenderly stroke her cheek. _**Afraid?**_ His hand worked its way lower, his fingers slipped into a small tear in the shoulder of her jacket. The sound of ripping fabric acted as a trigger, and enraged the woman and despite her astral powers sealed and her hands bound in cuffs Azrael overpowered the man with a kick to the groin. She crawled over him, two hands closed around the Devil's neck and she screamed. The woman slammed his head into the bare stone floor with repeated brutal force. She heard men shouting and within the minute several guards entered her small cell, they kicked the angel off of the body of the guard.

"Shit! Restrain her! She killed him!" Two soldiers pinned down the woman, in a single motion Azrael was face down in a pool of blood; the knee of a prison guard crushing her back.

"Put her in solitary!" The commandant of the Mid-Air Passage ordered, she was dragged to the lower levels of the angelic prison and thrown into a windowless steel room. She spent the night in agony and early the next morning she was processed through a cold shower and invasive medical exams, wearing an improperly short white cotton dress. The day after she was strapped into a straight jacket and restrained before a brushed steel table; she was given an opiate for submission as Raphael entered the room. He set down his notepad and started up his digital recorder as he removed his lab coat.

"Patient was been given 70mg of codeine, 20 minutes prior to interview. Tell me your name." The Virtue seated himself and took out a sleek blue pen that matched his eyes, an unspoken gift from his new 2nd in command.

"... Azrael..." the angel lifted her head for a moment and it fell back as lightheaded euphoria began filling her senses.

"Why are you here?" Raphael didn't look up and continued writing in small neat letters, his tone was indifferent and though it wasn't as deep it reminded her so much of him. She was silent for an indeterminable length of time, smiling lazily.

"I killed him," She laughed nervously. "He tried to hide, but I found him and I killed him." The doctor paused in his writing, and looked up with his gaze narrowed.

"Who? Who did you kill?" A long slender finger pushed the voice recorder closer to the amused woman.

"I can't..." She shifted uncomfortably in her restraints, too weak to test the bonds as her head lolled forward again.

"Tell me his name Azrael." Raphael demanded sternly and he saw the frown spoil her expression.

"Lucifer..." She said after great effort. "He's here. But none of you can see him..."

"In Heaven?"

"In this room." She tipped her head in the direction of the table edge. "He's so loud." Raphael stiffened for a fraction of a second and followed her eyes to the empty end of the table.

"What is he saying?" Raphael picked up his pen again, taking notes at a near inhuman speed.

"He's-" Azrael's brows knitted as she tried to make out the words. Lucifer leaned casually against the table's edge, he was frowning and speaking; but the woman could only hear garbled words at a volume that pounded inside her head.

"He's so loud." She repeated and struggled the restraints again. "He's so loud. He's so loud! STOP IT LUCIFER!" Raphael stood and gathered his belongings.

"Interview time eight minutes. Patient is triggered by the mention of her former commanding officer, claims that he is-" There was a loud crash on the tape recording and more of her delirious screaming.

"At that point the accused tipped over in her chair, she continued the episode for one hour and eighteen minutes before succumbing to exhaustion." Raphael leaned into the microphone on the witness stand, he delivered his statements with professional dispassion. He was well aware that he too was under serious suspicion, unlike Azrael who refused to take up Lucifel's position after the War, he had accepted the position Belial had vacated and it had infuriated many angels.

"And your prognosis?" Zuriel, astral governor of Libra already knew the outcome of this trial; any shred of evidence that might have proven her innocence had been deemed inadmissible and only paranoid accusation and tampered evidence mounted against her remained. She was damned and after her rampage no one wanted to see any other outcome.

"Advanced schizophrenia and paranoid delusions. I cannot professionally recommend treatment. She is unstable and anyone on my staff would be at risk of her violent temperament." Raphael stood and straightened his tie, dismissed from the stand he took his place back in the audience.

†

It would go down as one of the shortest jury deliberations in history, death had been the most obvious choice; but it was Ezekiel who convinced the jury of a much crueler sentence. He urged the court to cast her out of Paradise, send her straight back into the arms of the empire she had failed. The angels took to the idea with brutal elation. The court reconvened and Azrael was led back to the central podium, her unsteady steps made worse by the chains around her feet. She jumped at the sound of the judge's gavel summoning silence and for the first time managed to look around the courtroom. Familiar faces sat among a sea of strangers and for once she didn't spot Lucifer's face.

"For treason against the Divine and service to the Rebel Army. How does the jury find the defendant?" Ezekiel stood at the judge's silent invitation.

"We find the defendant guilty. And insist on a fall from grace punishment." A murmur ran through the courtroom, and all eyes fell on the woman who failed to react until Zuriel stripped her of her angelic name.

_**Did you hear that? Azreal, what a wicked name...**_ The anxiety of the trial had once again manifested itself in the form of Lucifer. His voice sliced cleanly through the haze of the narcotics in her system. _**We can't escape it...**_ Azreal snapped her head to the side to see him standing behind her; a smirk prevalent on his otherwise obscured features.

"No. NO NO NO!" Azreal's protest was overpowered by a folded cloth pressed to her nose, the heavy fumes drowned out the noise and she dropped into the arms of a guard. Half awake she was dragged back to the Mid-Air Passage, and as they approached the torture room she could smell the hot coals scorching the iron brand. She wasn't able to struggle as the guards latched her hands above her head and pulled her taunt against the ankle restraints.

_**Don't scream Azreal... they'll enjoy it **_ She cringed as the front of her shirt was torn open and with her breasts bared the red hot iron hovered over her chest. The agony exploded in a mounting swell of burning flesh and Azreal's screams filled the air until the inverted winged cross was detached and the waking world became a silent black luxury. It was well after nightfall again when Azreal woke up and discovered somewhere between then and now she'd been dropped to the ground and the brand had been disinfected and bandaged, a rough blanket covered her exposed chest and she couldn't find the will to sit up.

_**Come with me Azrael.**_ Slowly the branded woman turned her head towards his voice, she remembered those words, a simple statement that had haunted so many waking moments.

†

They finally had caught up to the Traitor and his generals, they had fled to the harsh and rocky desert of the borderlands between the lowest Heaven and highest Hell. Ashen storm clouds bloomed on the horizon and Lucifer turned in time to see her four white wings fold back into nothing. As was expected she was in the full regalia of the black uniform that only Seraphs could wear, and in this time of war the women had taken up the males full-length jacket and pants.

"Come with me, Azrael." Lucifer said, he bit past the pain of the bleeding opening in his chest; the wound that Michael had given him the aftermath of their duel. Had Bal not found her way in front of Michael's last attack, the newly revealed Prince of Darkness would have been dead.

"Wh...What?" Azrael replied, as light rain began to mist from overhead, Jibriel was putting out the fires of the first battle already.

"Come with me. We can find greatness elsewhere..." Lucifer offered his hand, shining red with his blood. Her expression changed to nothing short of grief as she met his gaze. "We will rule, not be ruled." Azrael recoiled and took a step back, and then another. She turned away and gave the soldiers at her call the signal to remove the Rebel Angels with overwhelming force.

"Azreal." Ezekiel's voice cut through the memory, and she was brutally reminded of the fact that she was on the floor of the Mid-Air Passage. The sound of the name felt ugly and her eyes shut in disdain. The guards had issued him a single warning 'do not approach', and he pressed himself against the two-way mirror on the wall.

"Brother-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Ezekiel screamed, narrowing aquamarine eyes in fury. For several minutes the only sound was of Azreal's twin brother yelling profanities, his fists slamming into the wall at his back until the glass shattered. Silver eyes opened again to the sight of her brother's hand coated in blood and she cringed as an arid desert zephyr touched her face; and she tried to place herself back in the dark torture room.

"I didn't save you from death Azreal. You should hope the fall kills you, because you more than anyone else knows what he's capable of." With those malicious words he left as was not present the following morning when she was loaded into a large merkaba bearing the sigil of the Prime Minister. She watched Michael's boots pace back and forth during the silent ride to the airspace that guaranteed the most fatal drop. She had her eyes shut as the cellphone in his dark leather jacket burst to life and he answered it with a grunt; a moment later the hatch behind her opened and the cargo bay filled with the faint stink of sulfur.

"Yea I fucking got it." Michael spat into the phone and turned to face the criminal in his care, a maniacal smile stretched with equally crazed laughter.

"Hope you're ready bitch." Michael unfastened the chains holding her in place, her arms fell limply back to her sides and the burnt flesh beneath the bandages screamed. She looked up and silently stared at him, he grinned again and slapped her hard across the face; she fell over and didn't see the boot plant itself firmly against the new stigma on her chest. She screamed as Michael pushed her back and she rolled down the loading ramp and into the open air of Hell.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

This chapter underwent the most revision and I'm proud to say that I'm finally very happy with it.


	5. Chapter 5

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 5

†

The doors of the White Mansion burst open and two cloaked creatures crossed into the entrance hall in the span of a heartbeat. They stood inhumanly still and as the first hands reached for the guns at their waists, the shorter of the two figures brandished a long greatsword; a wicked smile visible beneath the hooded-cloak. Azreal carried herself up the stairs, she sliced the first two men in half and sunk Tenkahane into the belly of the third. It had been centuries since she'd engaged in combat and the feel of Tenkahane ripping through soft flesh brought back the disjointed impulses of her madness. For the moment though, she welcomed the feeling with a satisfied laugh as the last of the guards spluttered his final breath on her blade. She stopped when she reached the top and allowed the black cloak to settle back around her shoulders, an oppressive stillness blanketed the room as her astral powers diffused in the air.

"Marvelous!" Rosiel sang out earnestly, clapping as he stepped over the dismembered remains of several guards. Azreal turned around and whatever thoughts lingered amongst the madness vanished as her eyes fell to the Demon Lord. Lucifer held onto her gaze as he wished; for just a moment, to be lost again in her naturally graceful method of slaughter. It was a virtue given to them by a God who created them for the battlefield.

"As always you manage to astound-" Rosiel fell silent as the woman raised a hand for silence, she turned her attention back to the double doors, embellished with ornate golden reliefs they were not heavy enough to suppress the dozen or so voices that had gathered behind them. Lucifer was beside her a moment later, his eyes narrowed behind the cylindrical helmet he wore.

"A hallway." Lucifer frowned as the voices became more frantic. He lifted his right arm and allowed the black gauntlet to sculpt itself into a single dangerously curved edge.

"Close quarters. There won't be room for both of us." Azreal tightened her grip on the Tenkahane. "I'll-" The doors burst off their hinges and a small contingent of white-clad soldiers took a defensive position in the doorway; handguns and larger automatics aimed on the pair of fallen angels. Small red points hovering between their hearts and covered faces.

"FREEZE!" Said a soldier in a pristine white uniform, Azreal eyed the group with caution, instantly recognizing their garbs.

"The Seraphs." The Angel of Death growled at the sight of Heaven's highest angelic order. "The Prime Minister's dogs."

"Shut it, bitch. I said freeze." The leader and most brazen of the his assault rifle directly between the woman's hidden eyes. He'd dealt with the Anima Mundi before and was certain that this would be no different, rebels were nothing in the presence of the Seraphs. "Drop your weapons."

"Sevotharte is the only one I want alive." Rosiel sighed, reminding his pets of their ultimate goal. Lucifer ran a fingertip across the edge of his jet black sword, a deadly simper worked into his features.

"Leave me that one." Azrael pointed the tip of her sword at the head of the White Mansions guards, Lucifer moved with speed they couldn't hope to track and left the leader to Azreal as he tore into the young men in the doorway. The sound of screams and automatic gunfire rose in deafening pitch as the King of Hell overwhelmed the soldiers. Azreal watched the leader's pale green eyes widen in horror and as he looked back she charged forward, the loud snap of her heels brought his attention back to her and he fired several rounds that tore into the black cloak flared out behind her. Tenkahane buried itself into his knee and he collapsed with an agonized wail. She kicked the rifle out of reach and planted the slender tip of her heel against his collarbone.

"How old are you?" The woman loomed over him; as the adrenaline in his body curbed the pain of his mutilated knee.

"GO TO HELL!" He spat and reached for the strap of his rifle; somewhere behind him the screams of his comrades being torn limb from limb was conquering the dying sound of gunshots. As his fingers brushed the thickly wound of his strap he felt the excruciating snap of his collarbone and screamed. The monster above him cocked her head to the side and scowled deeply at his words. In complete silence she pushed the black cape over her shoulder, unbuckled the leather across her chest, and exposed the black cross hidden under the bolero

"The inverted cross... the mark of..." He gasped as his body was sent into shock; two broken bones and the knowledge of his eminent demise left him hitching short breathes. "A fallen..."

"Answer my question." The woman asked again, and she removed her now bloodied heel from his neck.

"...Service...fifteen..." His skin had taken on a greyish pallor. "hundred."

"Too young. You don't even know who I am." Azrael pulled the hood of her cape back, light spread across her features. He felt his chest constrict in sudden unbearable panic, the former 2nd chair of his own rank who served the 1st and only Morningstar in Creation. The infamous Angel of Death.

"Azreal..." Her name only reinforced the impossible fact that she had reemerged. The soldier shifted his focus for a moment, incorrectly guessing the identity of the 2nd intruder.

"Oh?" Azreal plunged her sword into the man's neck, segmenting his head from his body. "Do they tell you stories of my atrocities?"

_More..._ She stood up as the voice inside her head urged her to continue as she slipped into the reverie of her madness.

†

"O...Our Fa...ather who ar..t in He...AVEN..." The maid had broken out into sobs when she had first laid eyes on the woman, she'd dropped her tea tray and retreated back into the small dark room she'd come from.

"HaAAAAAH-" She wailed as the hooded thing before her swung the sword, an angry red line of blood running across her cheek.

"Hallowed. Be. Thy. Name..." Azreal continued, anger ignited each word as the girl covered her mouth with her hand; muffling her cries as she nodded. "That prayer... I wonder if He can hear you now. Hear you and know that you are about to die. Do you think He'll come save you? Do you think He's even listening anymore." The young angel nodded harder and Azreal could only observe the overwhelming faith and certainty in the girl's dark brown eyes. The tears streaming down her round cheeks were interrupted as searing pain knifed through her chest. The sword in the woman's hand was now in the maid's chest, it punctured both lungs and tore through the wall behind her. The girl tried to gasp, but expelled a stream of blood from the corners of her lips, she curled up in pain; silently screaming before going limp.

"He's never bothered to listen before. Why would He start now?" Azreal pulled out Tenkahane, and watched with dispassion as the maid slid to the floor, she left a smear of blood on the wall and Azreal turned on a heel. The Angel of Death returned to the white sunbathed hallway; Rosiel had made his request clear, there were to be no interruptions when the Messiah arrived. So she wandered, enjoying the hunt and the chance to refine the sharpness of skills she hadn't used in ages.

"Shhh-" The faint cry instantly attracted Azreal's attention, and she followed the hushed murmurs to another white uninteresting door. She found it locked, and trying the lever knob only prompted the number of people hiding inside to make more noise. The woman tore the golden knob from the door and found it barricaded as the angels inside began their fearful cries. She counted four distinct voices, males and females hiding together like cowards.

_Kill them..._ Azreal tore through the door with Tenkahane, and splintered the barricade to fragments.

"Hiding like children." The fallen angel sneered as she entered the room, there were more maids and young white-clad soldiers too green to function without their superiors. Azreal frowned at the sight of them huddled together on the floor and she lifted her hand with the palm up and allowed her astral energy to flicker to life; it felt wrong she thought as sparks of white light snapped between her outstretched fingers. The sensation of Lucifer's energy sharply registered as she allowed the electrical current of her power to exterminate the last of the mansions pests; and she knew suddenly that eons in the Pit had stained her very aura.

"Are you checking up on me?" Azreal found the Devil waiting for her just outside the now broken door; the black helmet tucked between his arm and waist.

"I just wanted a moment alone with you." Lucifer admitted, and he watched with a smile as Tenkahane vanished from her grip into the astral plane were most sword wielding angels kept their blades until they required its service. Azreal raised a brow and sighed, meeting his smile with vacant curiosity. She stiffened as Lucifer closed in on her until the radiating warmth of his body made her realize the cold in her own.

"I need to ask something of you. A favor." Azreal held her breath as his hands settled on her waist and he left a trail of fire up her sides as he put the leather buckle of her short jacket back in place; hiding the unsightly crest on her chest.

"What could I possibly do for you that you can't do for yourself?" Azreal's voice shook at the sensation of his fingertips as they traced up her neck. Lucifer frowned, as much as he loved the snide little game they played, there were times he only wanted her attention. He pulled her face closer by the chin and forced her eyes to meet him.

"When the Messiah arrives, you will stay your sword." Lucifer commanded in a chilling tone, gray eyes sending a shudder of discomfort through the woman. There he is, Azreal thought to herself; there was the ruthless angel who had once been her Morningstar. He watched her with piercing eyes, waiting for her submission.

"Why...?" Under those hard eyes Azreal felt herself shrinking, his grip on her chin softened and his fingerless gloved hand cupped her cheek.

"Because you will kill him, and I can't let that happen yet." Hell's king brushed his thumb along the edge of her bottom lip and with that vague explanation he was gone, back to Rosiel's side. Silver eyes settled on the ground at her feet, his warmth of his hands lingered far too long.

"She's certainly enjoying herself. Wouldn't you say Lucifer?" Rosiel gracefully slid from his perch as Lucifer returned with the woman called Lailah thrown over his shoulder. The white-haired woman was clinging to the decapitated head of a dead guard, and she babbled nonsense to the 'baby' in her hands. She cooed softly to the gored head as the Demon Lord set Sevotharte's imposter on the floor. The delirious woman screamed as the severed head slipped from her grasp.

"MY BABY!" She sobbed and crawled after the remains as it rolled into an open set of doors; only to roll back into her arms as Azreal emerged.

"Did you find Sevotharte?" The fallen angel watched the nude woman cradle the gored head against her bosom.

"That's him right there." Rosiel flashed a playful grin as he pointed at the woman as he sighed her lullabies. "This is Lailah, and she had been a very naught girl." Rosiel's fingers twisted strands of the delirious woman's hair and he explained that the true Sevotharte had died in service during the First War; and that mask the the Prime Minister wore was not to hide the disfigurement of battle, but her true face.

"He was... a fraud...?" Azreal narrowed her eyes, he had earned many commendations after the war, most of which she had presented to him herself. Rosiel nodded and his eyes wandered towards the front of the mansion, loosing the mirth in his expression as the sound voices reached them.

"He's here." Lucifer's attention followed Rosiel's, and Azreal felt the presences breech the mansion's first staircase.

†

"What...the hell?" Mudou Setsuna froze as the doors of the White Mansion swung open, the smell of blood struck him before the lingering sensation of a potent and unrecognizable astral signatures. Dozens of bodies lay strewn on the staircase, many of them missing limbs or completely torn to shreds.

"What happened here Raziel...?!" The young Messiah exchanged nervous glances with the angel of Thrones, who switched off the safety of his handgun. Nanatsusaya shook violently in Setsuna's hands as they climbed the stairs; its reaction to the strength of the auras infecting the mansion.

"Who...? Who could have done something like this?" Raziel knelt beside of the few intact bodies and scanned it for wounds. He measured the single laceration to the length of his middle finger and paled at the thoughts that crossed his mind.

"Whoever it was. They are very old..."

"How do you figure that?" Setsuna frowned as he tried to soothe the shivers running through the holy blade in his hands. He'd been among celestial creatures long enough now to know that 'old' to immortals did not mean the same thing it did on Assiah; it meant power along with experience.

"This was done by a sword- a large sword; along the same lines as Michael-sama. But with the advent of firearms, many younger generations don't bother with swords. So whoever murdered these men is as ancient as the Elemental Angels." Raziel continued through the passage, and they stepped carefully over the massacred bodies of the Prime Minister's guards. "Every guard wearing white is a Seraph. They're old and powerful." The young leader of the Anima Mundi led his team up the stairs.

"Do you hear that...? Someone... Someone is singing." Setsuna strained to catch the sound over the numerous footsteps of his comrades. "Can you hear it? A woman is singing..." The teenager quickened his pace and broke into a sprint as the singing grew louder.

_I gotta see what... or who caused this..._ Nanatsusaya shivered, the crystal sword sung out in terror as the strength of the auras overwhelmed the group.

_I know its dangerous... But..._ The Messiah came to a halt as he broke through the doorway, even more bodies and sitting in the center of the carnage a white-haired woman sat rocking back and forth; her song softly washing over them.

"Se...Sevotharte!?" Raziel gasped, there was no mistaking that endless white hair, but it was a woman and the Mark of Lilith burned into her cheek said something else entirely.

"SILENCE!" The woman's shrill voice echoed high into the rafters, and she huddled closer to the bloody shape in her arms.

"You'll wake my baby..." She cooed, fingers combed through the sticky hair of the head in her lap. "And he's so scary when he's angry..." Lailah leaned forward, hiding the remains in her arms.

"He's watching from inside me... Watching me..." The woman turned her numb gaze on Setsuna. "Watching you, with his many many red eyes. He's staring." The Messiah cringed, the fearful love in her voice was suffocating.

_There's no mistaking it... This is Lailah._ Setsuna ran a hand through his hair, the cross-shaped scar on her forehead confirmed his ultimate suspicion. _How have things ended up this complicated?_

"Sevotharte! We, the Anima Mundi now order you to-" Raziel took aim at the woman curled on the ground.

"Raziel... That's enough. The Prime Minister is no longer here. Not anymore." The teenager firmly set his hand on the blonde's shoulder. Raziel visibly shook with hatred, he'd come too far to excuse Zaphkiel's killer now; one way or another Sevotharte was going to pay.

"I can't forgive you! How are you going to answer to all those who've died because of-" The small group of insurgents cemented in place as an aura of mind numbing terror swept over them.

Evil_. _At its very core that the was the only word they could manage to conjure up in the presence of the cold death and fiery darkness that was so overwhelmingly powerful, they could feel their life-forces bend to its will.

"Even that mighty sword trembles in fear of you, eh?" Rosiel's silky effeminate voice floated through the air, the rebel group reacted in a simultaneous frenzy of raised weapons.

"I was just testing these toys of mine... The whole mansion fell in an instant." Setsuna's chocolate eyes counted three figures hidden in the shadowed alcove of the high rafters. The largest wore black reflective armor and its humanoid body was covered completely in a heavy black cape, the creature had Alexiel's twin seated on its shoulder his shoulders wrapped in a white sheet. The third monster was almost completely obscured in the shadow of the first, only the reflection of the sunlight on the large broadsword in its grip caught his attention; it was splattered with blood and he could feel the same aura on it as the bodies scattered throughout most of the mansion.

"Well..." Rosiel slid off the body of the taller creature's shoulder and he landed on the soft mutilated flesh of more dead shoulders.

"Bastard! You did this didn't you Rosiel!?" Setsuna screamed, feeling panic and fury boil inside of him. "You used those things and- and it was you who drove Sevotharte insane right?!"

"Oh, you don't need to thank me for that. I didn't do any of this for you." Rosiel grinned, he very much enjoyed the urgent expression on Mudou's face.

"They're still hungry." Rosiel pressed his cheek to the pitch black metal spaulder on the shorter figure's shoulder. "Alright you two. Do you see them? New food had delivered itself right to you. Enjoy it." The black-clad creatures moved to the edge of their perch as the group tightened together.

"How pitiful... So that eye of yours hasn't healed yet?" The Inorganic Angel set a hand on his hips with disapproving shake of his head. "Now... If you had Alexiel's healing powers, that injury of yours would have healed already. And if that's not enough, you've already lost your wings; and therefore your dignity as the Organic Angel! The rest of you must be having a hard time putting up with this disgraceful Messiah."

"How dare you insult our comrade like that!" One of the young soldiers aimed his automatic at the figures overhead.

"Wait! Don't-" Setsuna watched in slow motion as the two monstrous figures stepped off their high perch. A black claw broke through the silhouette of the larger creature's cape, and sliced through three of the five insurgents. The smaller creature, landed on the fourth soldier as the large sword embedded itself in the fifth guerilla's skull, splitting him to the nose before life completely extinguished. They landed as silently as they moved, causing the group to fall back and away from the monsters that moved in the blink of an eye. Setsuna's eyes widened and he refused to blink as they rose and shook the blood from their respective weapons.

"That high-ranking man. Who is he?" Rosiel seated himself at the edge of the perch, he nodded to one of the members of the Anima Mundi. The black angels moved in a flash to ostracize the older angel from the group. The male grabbed hold of the bearded angel before the others could react properly. One of the men moved forward and found himself blocked by the cloaked female who wore a malicious grin as he met the end of her sword.

"Thrones. Seat Number 4." A chill ran up the bearded man's spine as he locked eyes with the pair hidden beneath the cross-shaped opening in the helmet. "The commanding officer of the 'Anima Mundi' rebel organization. Your angelic name is Vashiel." Rosiel laughed heartily and placed his chin in his palm.

"This man will do correct?" The Inorganic Angel directed his comment to the woman who kept her focus on the angels in front of her.

"Yes." She replied calmly. "It has to be a recognizable face, one that will draw everyone's attention." Setsuna's eyes widened as realization set in.

"Rosiel! You bastard!"

"Kill." The helmeted figure complied, and from the gauntlet a single black blade protruded through the man's throat.

†

"Halt Rebels!" The sound of a dozen rifles taking aim alerted Setsuna and his comrades of the sudden invasion of Rosiel's elite force. The female of the two creatures returned silently to the male's side, her frown vanishing as the chance for battle was lost.

"Men, capture these people. They've murdered everyone in the White Mansion, driven the Prime Minister Sevotharte mad, and plotted the murder of the Great Seraph Metatron." The Inorganic Angel pointed to the group of rebels. Setsuna faced the new threat with Nanatsusaya raised, and it suddenly dawned on him. The Anima Mundi had been made the scapegoat of the Rosiel's attack on the manor.

"Rosiel!" The Messiah pivoted around and charged forward. The black-clad monster hesitated for just a moment, his hand extended to allow the obsidian blade to change shape an it impaled Setsuna Mudou with all four points of his sword.

"MESSIAH!" Raziel screamed, held back by one of the guerrilla soldier's under his command.

"Fooled ya didn't I" Setsuna shook with laughter and his features melted away and Katou's laughter ceased as his jet black eyes found empty gray eyes hidden behind the helmet.

"Idiot! Why'd you push me away?!" Setsuna sat back up and his glare faded into at the sight before him.

"Fastest one wins Mudou." Katou sharply replied, the rush of adrenaline and Uriel's plant material helped him push past the pain. He raised Kira's katana and struck with all the strength he could muster. The metal of the helmet veined and fractured in two and for a fraction of a second Katou was sure he was imagining until Setsuna choked out a panicked scream.

"Your body is made from plant material. Too bad." Setsuna cemented to the spot, unable to tear his eyes from the sight of the face he knew so well.

_Kira...?_

"The fiery glow of that sword would never hurt its owner." Sakuya Kira's doppelganger slid off the remainder of his headgear, running a hand through his hair to brush away black fragments of the reflective metal. Setsuna could not comprehend the idea of Kira's face under the mask of that monster. It had been weeks since the death of his sempai, but there he was as; the cruelest torture Rosiel could concoct.

"Corpses should stay in the ground." Hearing his voice without the constriction of the helmet was colder and less like Kira, and Setsuna was heartwrenchingly relieved "Where they belong." The imposter tore through Katou's body, retracting the multiple sharp blades back into the gauntlet.

"That sword..." The female beside the monster with Kira's face pointed at Setsuna. "Where did you get that sword?" The woman stormed forward and ignored the hand as it latched onto her wrist.

"Why do you have Nanatsusaya?!" The seven-bladed sword in Setsuna's hand cried out a fearful metallic song as the woman tore the hood of her cape back. He only barely recalled the description the Cherub Ezekiel had given him, midnight blue hair and eyes so pale they looked white under the contrast of her dark hair.

"ANSWER ME BOY!" She slipped her arm free and her fingers came within inches of the Messiah. The woman was jerked sharply backwards by her companion as an unexpected explosion shattered the tension between the Anima Mundi and Rosiel's personal battalion.

"ALEX!" The Earth Angel's voice overpowered the settling wave of white dust and debris. "Hurry! We're retreating!" Uriel's moss green eyes scanned the room for his allies and he found Setsuna sinking to his knees before a pair of black-clad figures. He traced Setsuna's line of sight to the two enemies and his eyes widened in a flash of discordant panic. Lucifer, there was no mistaking an aura as cold and dead and that one; and Azreal, the insane Angel of Death's lunatic shrieks escalated in urgency as Hell's King wrapped an arm around the fallen angel's waist and bounded out of reach to the windows high above.

"Let's go. Lucifer. Azreal." Rosiel's smile was tense but triumphant as he helped himself out the window.

"KIRA-SEMPAI!" Setsuna wailed, on the edge of tears as he gathered up Katou's body. Azreal's eyed the Devil, who's gray eyes shifted if only for a moment. The sharp black sword retracted back under his cape and he silently stepped onto the wing of the waiting merkaba.

"Come with me." Lucifer offered a hand as he led Azrael out of the White Mansion; they traveled across the wing to the opening of the airship, where Rosiel and Katan had already slipped in.

"It looks like Michael made it after all." Lucifer came to a halt and his steel eyes drifted towards one of the airships above them. Azrael followed his eyes, sensing Fire's radiate energy and she felt one of Lucifer's hands slip around to the flat plane of her stomach. While the other pulled her shoulder back into him chest in a possessive grip that helped paint a picture that would surely infuriate their twins.

"Say hello to Ezekiel."


	6. Chapter 6

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 6

†

It had been ages since Michael had felt such overwhelming panic, he felt his muscles tighten and compact the bones in his body until he could hear them grind together with each rattled breath.

"LUCIFER!" Fire howled and he heaved in great breaths in a desperate attempt to loosen the constriction in his lungs. He swallowed the bile that burned his esophagus and slammed his head against the back of his chair. Michael cursed, kicked, and screamed his lungs out until the Angel of War was left emotionally abated.

"Lucifer." Michael had already known. From the second that loathsome pulse of energy snaked its way through him, but like an idiot he needed to see for himself and his burning teal eyes had found more than just the answer to his question.

"That fucking bitch!" Michael growled at the woman enveloped in his arms. He needed Ezekiel to see her and it was a small comfort to know that someone else needed the news as badly as he did. The Fire Angel snatched up his cell, and he hesitated for a long minute before dialing out to the angel.

"Michael?" Ezekiel's voice came over the line quicker than Michael had expected and for just a second the redhead stumbled over his thoughts. "What happened earlier?"

"I..I SENT YOU SOMETHING! CHECK YOUR DAMN MESSAGES!" Michael cut to the chase and barked the order loud enough that even with the phone held at arms length Ezekiel could hear him clearly. The man snorted, Michael rarely took advantage of modern technology, he had always preferred to communicate in person and while that usually resulted in explosions; the Fire angel never complained.

"What have you been doing?" Ezekiel sat down at his desk and flipped the slim black laptop open. "What were you saying earlier about- you know?" The angel caught himself, he didn't want to risk setting off another one of the Chief Powers' fits.

"Just check your fucking messages." Michael darkened and he held his breath as the sound of keyboard strokes and mouse clicks came in from the other end. Ezekiel found Michael's aptly named 'God Fucking Damn-it' message and found three images attached. He opened the first and felt terror rush through him.

"Lucifer..." The Angel of Logic inhaled sharply and he observed that the Demon Lord had not been oblivious to the photo being taken, those empty eyes were focused too well to be accidental and the smile he wore betrayed everything.

"There's two more." Michael reminded with a frown and he felt dread prickle down his back; he knew what Ezekiel was going to say and the angel had no idea how to explain himself. A chain of loud crashes indicated that he'd loaded the second image.

"You said she was dead...!" Ezekiel reeled and felt the throbbing of his heartbeat deafen his hearing. Her windswept ocean-blue hair had reached a considerable length and those caustic silver eyes locked him in place. The Cherub was minutely aware that the last rays of sunlight had sank and Paradise had been plunged into darkness for the night. He hovered over the final image, he stomached the fear of seeing exactly what he expected and loaded the last photo.

"She's with him..." It wasn't a question or a simple statement about her present location; it was a reality that made his vision shake with irreconcilable fury. He was surprised, but not as much as he should have been. They had always been together; studies, work, and they seemed to preferred each others company over anything else. Michael remained silent on the other end, his eyes switching periodically between the same three images.

"Michael." Ezekiel's tone attempted indifference. "You said she was dead."

"...I spent three goddamn days in Hell, almost got caught breaking the peace treaty by those fucking Evil's. Three days and I didn't find shit! There wasn't any evidence suggesting she was alive! SO I MADE THE FUCKING CALL!" Michael felt his chest constrict as his temper soared. The young man on the other end fell silent, waiting for Fire's heavy breathing to subside.

"Where are you going now?" The Cherub finally asked, slipping into his uniform's jacket.

"Raphael's" Michael grunted, and forced himself to minimize the image of his brother and his whore from the monitors. "You coming?"

"No, I need to find Uriel-sama." They ended the call almost simultaneously, the panic of the unknown was over, and the rising fear of a confrontation was slowly easing its way inside both young men. Aquamarine eyes lingered on his sister's image and he shook his head as the tide wave of memories resurfaced. He exited his private quarters and headed straight to the haven of the Zodiac Angels. He slipped through the door and made his presence know with a cough

"Ezekiel. Was there something you needed from us?" Aries turned his attention to the angel far below his perch; the others followed suit in eerie unison.

"She's alive." Logic's gaze hardened as a miniscule smile danced across Malahidael's pointed features. "And you all knew."

"We were not certain." Cancer's governor, Manuel admitted he leaned forward and roused the gold wings that had taken the place of his arms."We had considered it though, Azreal's chances of surviving her punishment where fairly high. There were many things and creatures that could have saved her."

"Lucifer has made his appearance as well." Ezekiel ground his teeth, they had known all along regardless of what they said.

"That was only a matter of time." The conjoined twins that made up the governors of Scorpio and Pisces stated blandly. They shared a single pair of legs, a waist, and stomach; splitting off at the chest into two distinct angel's who went by a name Barchiel.

"They're together." Their keeper crossed his arms as several of the council members canted their heads in unison again.

"Now that, is surprising." Malahidael gave a husky chuckle, four gold clawed fingers tapped against the stone orb.

"Is it?" Ezekiel snapped, biting his tongue as the words turned to regret.

"It is, all things considered." Aries' ruling angel eluded. "For now, we prefer you stay here Ezekiel."

"I can't. I have to see her for myself." The Cherub stiffly turned away, leaving only the echo of his footsteps. Malahidael's smile sharpened, the various possibilities for the future were converging, thinning out into more reasonable options that they would keep to themselves.

†

"KIRA-SEMPAI IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" Ezekiel could hear the Messiah from down the corridor of the Anima Mundi's headquarters. "WHY WAS HE WITH ROSIEL!?" Setsuna clutched his head and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes to keep the sting of tears away.

"We shouldn't be surprised that Lucifer has resurfaced, or Azreal for that matter; and it seems that Rosiel has laid his claim over their souls." Uriel leaned back against the desk, his arms crossed and a serious expression in his eyes. As Setsuna peeked through his hands and silently urged him to continue.

"There are angels with immortal souls. The Elements, Rosiel and Alexiel, and the highest ranking angels of the First Sphere count among them. Our bodies can be destroyed, but under the right conditions we can be reincarnated." The Earth Angel sighed as the 4th Cherub entered the small office, and he was certain his demeanor was one of worry. "Ezekiel. I have some-"

"I already know." Ezekiel briefly nodded. "But do they know who they're dealing with now? The angel motioned towards Raziel and Setsuna as Uriel shook his head. The uniformed Cherub took to the keyboard of the nearby console and quickly found the data he'd sought after. The dozen screens on the wall flickered away from the exabytes of information being calculated for the war effort and instead filled with images and recordings of the two intruders at the White Mansion.

"This is the first Morningstar. The one you know as Lucifer." Ezekiel tapped the screen of Kira's double, his face devoid of any conceivable emotion; Setsuna felt the weight of his world shift. The man was no longer Kira and that itself was a huge relief, but now he was up against the Devil himself, the Great Adversary and Lord of Darkness.

"And this..." The brunette angel paused, his aquamarine eyes glued to the portrait of a proper looking woman, her dark hair was worn in a tight knot and her features wore as astringent frown of authority.

"This is Azreal, she worked directly beneath Lucifel as the 2nd Seraph. She was his adjutant and a short time after his fall she murdered countless angels in a single act of rebellion." Uriel's continued quickly, and he shuddered at the video of her branding, her silent screams rang clearly in his ears.

"They are brilliant, merciless, and exceptionally powerful." Ezekiel sucked in a breath, behind him ancient videos played out the silent story of the 1st and his 2nd.

"The fact that they are working together doesn't bode well for us, and if they are under Rosiel's command as you say; that only makes matters much worse." The Elemental Angel ran a hand over his mouth and found his confidence waning.

"Rosiel it seems has resurrected the Devil and his most crucial collaborator. All of that power and none of the memories. He's made monsters out of them." Uriel pondered out loud, and he jumped back when Setsuna flung himself off the desk with a smile.

"Then if Kira's lost his memories, all we have to do is make him remember! We'll have Kira-Sempai back in no time!" The young Messiah's smile wavered as his eyes shifted between the two angels.

"No way its gonna be that easy." A pained sneer came from the doorway, Katou stood against door frame, his chest bandaged and his arm locked in a sling.

"That bastard... He called me a corpse and he wasn't smiling. He knew everything but he was still going to kill us." The blonde shuffled forward, his weight supported on the ancient katana. Setsuna hurried to support his companion, frowning when his efforts were ignored.

"Those empty gray eyes. They recognized every single one of us! HE DIDN'T LOSE ANYTHING!" Katou shoved Setsuna away and doubled over as the stitches in his chest strained.

"What is this?!" Raziel had been rubbing his temples when the images on the screens were simultaneously replaced with the image of the Inorganic Angel."

"They're using an override signal of some kind." Ezekiel tried the keyboard and found himself locked out.

"This is going to be on every screen in Heaven!" Uriel furrowed his brows as Rosiel's image burned into the monitors. "With Sevotharte's demise, Rosiel now holds power over Heaven..."

†

"My precious countrymen, I, the highest angel who has Adam Kadamon's blood in his veins must share a detestable truth with you. Please. I implore you to listen whole-heartedly." Rosiel announced in a dramatic tone, his voice emanating from every television screen in Heaven.

"Rosiel-sama!" A member of the press stood up, arm raised with an inquiry. "The reports coming in are saying that none of the Elemental Angels or the Messiah were among those apprehended. It is still considered suppression if they escaped?" The camera panned back and captured the Inorganic Angel's confidant smile.

"They've escaped for now. But, no matter. For the time being this man will do." Off camera a man was thrown roughly to the ground, a man who had already once given his life for the Anima Mundi. Rosiel's DNA had brought Vashiel back as nothing more than a sack of wires and meat, given preprogrammed words and actions to ensure his role was played well.

"I am..." The Thrones struggled, a vestige of his soul clung to the body that was no longer his. "The current commander of the Anima Mundi. It was the last wish of out founder Zaphkiel-sama to cleanse this world... We fought. Fought for the sake of Heaven... We fought to control all of Heaven." The handcuffs on his wrist weren't intended to keep him held down and the sword in his sleeve, like everything else had been a carefully planned farce to cement Rosiel's play for power.

"Heaven is our now! THERE IS NO ROOM FOR SUCH OLD BLOOD ANYMORE!" He charged forward, the wires running through his system expanded and contracted the correct muscles to send him to his doom. In a flash he was split in two, his body tumbled to the ground with all his initial momentum. Blood splattered the first few rows of onlookers and the man responsible for Vashiel's first and second deaths was left relatively clean.

"Sempai..." Setsuna reeled, unprepared for look at the man who wore his best friends face.

"Shoo. Shoo. Go check on her." Rosiel's voice caught faintly in the microphone and Lucifer silently took his leave.

"I promise you." The cheering in the crowd settled down into silence and the whole of Heaven was willing to eat the words out of his hand. "My beloved compatriots. No matter what calamity might have befallen us, I will lead you to the glory of my Paradise. I will chase away the evil infecting our Heaven!"

"That fucking asshole!" Katou sneered. "Even the dead aren't sacred. And now we look like the damn bad guys!"

"Why Vashiel!?" Raziel felt the color from his face drain. "I'm the true commander! Why did he have to-"

"Because you have no swaying power. Can you imagine a half developed teenage angel up there. Not even Rosiel could get away with that." Ezekiel interrupted and the others turned to him. "He needed someone with much more experience, both physically and mentally. Rosiel has made your group the enemy of Heaven, and he's made himself the hero..."

"He must have been waiting for a chance like that for a very long time." Uriel frowned, his brows furrowed in a nervous expression that inspired no confidence.

"I won't forgive this! How dare he soil Zaphkiel-sama's ideals!" Raziel gritted his teeth, briefly aware that Setsuna hadn't given any sort of reaction yet. The teen was lost in his thoughts; forced to settle in a reality where Kira was no longer Kira, and whatever Kira was now was defending Rosiel. He was now an enemy.


	7. Chapter 7

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 7

†

Rosiel's castle was enormous, even by the standards of the accommodations allotted to other high ranking officers; and it was surrounded on all sides by a rolling forest of green and silver trees. The building towered several stories over the tops of the trees and had a single turret high enough to scrape low-hanging clouds. It was the perfect location for the Inorganic Angel to house two infamous fallen angels and ensure their presence was kept from prying eyes. Regardless of the privacy offered, he quickly and quietly ushered them into the mansion; excitedly speaking to the young Cherub at his side. The interior of the house was as ostentatious as the exterior, large paintings sat framed in solid gold and flowers tried to mask a lingering bouquet of gunpowder and blood.

"The maids won't give you any trouble, they've been instructed to stay out of your way." Rosiel glanced back towards his ex-angels and he pulled the soft waves of his hair over his shoulder. "Plus, they usually serve in silence."

"Rosiel-sama." Katan's frown tightened as he pulled a long charcoal coat over Rosiel's shoulders. "You should rest. You haven't had much sleep as of late..." The angel wanted to say that he'd invested too much time in the Demon Lord, but Rosiel would hear none of it.

"How was it Katan?" The Inorganic Angel smiled wide, pleasantly steering the topic back to his speech earlier in the evening. "I said everything I wanted to, just the way I wanted to." Katan glared behind him, Lucifer and his envoy had fallen back in a hushed conversation.

"...I'm worried." Katan admitted outright, and caught a glance of Azreal walking away. "You never know when Lucifer will turn on you." Katan's eyes found the Demon Lord again. He was leaning against one of the white marble supports with a smirk curving his lips. Dark gray eyes shifted and Katan's brows knitted together as they silently appraised each other.

"He... He aimed to take down the Creator and sought his victory with a blade. Though you think you've tamed him... Those eyes are the way they've always been."

"Don't worry so much about it, Katan." Rosiel said with a laugh, they'd gone over this once or twice and the Inorganic Angel felt his patience on the matter begin to ebb. "See?" The angel silently signaled Lucifer to his side as he held out his hand expectantly. Lucifer dipped to one knee and his lips brushed the porcelain skin of Rosiel's hand. The Inorganic madman smiled, satisfied with the gesture as proof of ultimate loyalty.

"Go get some rest, you're tired, no?" Lucifer didn't respond as Rosiel stood on tiptoe to brush their lips together. The angels watched the Demon Lord take his leave, and waited in silence until he disappeared from sight and sound.

"Besides..." The Inorganic Angel shifted his weight and freed a dark amber gem now set in gold from his hip; he dangled it back and forth for the Cherub. "As long as I hold the Blood Crystal his soul is compelled to obey my every command." Gold eyes watched with quiet wonder as Lucifer's blood, nearly black with age, swirled and rippled beneath the gem's surface.

"And Azreal. What have you done to control her?" Katan couldn't help but wonder if his master saw the same woman he did. He hadn't graduated from the ST Academy when it happened, and counted himself lucky that he wasn't among the countless victims she'd taken. She was insane, that had never been denied; but just being in her presence made it abundantly clear that something wrong was just below the surface.

"None actually." Rosiel admitted sheepishly. "But Azreal's loyalties have always been with Lucifer, she'll bend her knee for as long as she believes Lucifer's loyalty is genuine." Katan's eyes widened, unable to believe that there was nothing but Rosiel's unwavering trust in the Devil holding that dangerous vile woman in check.

†

"Say something." Lucifer demanded, his whisper betraying his agitation. But Azreal was distance and unfocused, silver eyes on the ground and she was noiselessly speaking to herself. She had slipped into a mania on the merkaba, screaming incoherently until Lucifer joined her after Rosiel's press conference. The woman's eyes had gone wide with dread and she pressed herself into a corner until the ship landed.

"Azreal." Lucifer came to a stop, his scowl deepened when she didn't; he reached for her arm and she blanched at the contact. She snatched her hand away and stared him down for a long moment.

"...real...!" She gasped as terror washed over her features. "...He's real...He's real..."

"I...I would like to go to my room!" Azreal shrieked to the maids and cleared some distance between herself and Lucifer. With swift nods that seemed more robotic than living the young maids turned to lead the woman to her room. Silver eyes gave the Devil one last look, she shuddered as that piercing indifference bore into her. When they rounded the corner the maniac woman nervously cast her eyes around, his apparition always followed and it tormented her with sweet words and ominous smiles. But he had touched her, and he hadn't faded away into someone else.

"It was him..." The woman muttered again and again, until the mantra began to clear away the fog of madness; just enough to remember her fear of Lucifer's company was outmatched when compared to the blistering rage of seeing Nanatsusaya in the hands of the Messiah. She snarled at the image of his hands taming that bestial sword.

_He gave you that sword..._ It had been a show of His faith in her loyalty after Lucifer's war. But the sword had not been as kind to her as she had been to it. The Creator had said it had a soul and at first she'd taken it as a figure of speech, but the spirit inside Nanatsusaya hadn't stayed dormant for long. It had asked for her name in a voice that begged to be recognized. But it went unnoticed until he was in the corner of her eye and she was standing in a pool of angel blood.

"You're room ma'am." One of the maids squeaked and she kept her head down. Another youth unlocked the door and together they disappeared into the room, lights switched on and the woman entered the room with little hesitation. The white walls held intricate reliefs and ancient Enochian prayers that where offset by dark brown and bronze furniture and fixtures. A thick framed mirror hanging over the mantle of a fireplace offered a view into a similarly decorated bedroom.

"Ma'am..." The most senior of the maids stood in the doorway, her skirt exposing only half of her calves. She had her hands balled up stiffly at her sides and her breathes came in short fearful little spurts.

"What?" Azreal frowned, in the mirror she watched the maids wince, their fear was as unwelcome as their presence.

"Do you require anything?" The maid rushed and she silently prayed that the woman was similar to the man she accompanied; he was unkind and possibly cruel but kept his requests minimal.

"Yes. A change of clothing and an Ark Tablet." The girls fled the room, procuring the items while Azreal found her way into the bathing room. The bathroom bore dark wood walls and white fixtures, she started the water in the large glass shower; and in a few moments the glass became opaque. The fallen angel stripped out of the leather clinging to her body and paused to examine the bruise still fresh on her arm. Belial had said it was her own fault for picking at the IV and muscle underneath was sore and tender; and she felt her skin prickle as the restlessness of withdrawal set in for another attack. The hot water did little to settle the intensity of the craving her body had for opiates but the strain in her unused muscles melted under the torrent of water.

†

She didn't notice him enter the room and hardly reacted when he took a seat beside her on the dark sofa. With one arm draped across back of the sofa Lucifer busied himself with watching, she had her blue hair piled over her shoulder, splayed out to dry on the arm of the couch and she was dressed in silk the color of white sand with a split running to her hips. It exposed a black gossamer underskirt that refused to allow him more than a glimpse of her long limbs.

"What are you doing?" He inquired innocently as he watched her sharp features scan the datapad intently.

"Nothing." Azreal evaded and she didn't bother to hide the article she was reading; Lucifer's eyes scanned the rolling text, he made out few words as she skimmed the entries. His and her names among them.

"How did you get into the Ark database?" Lucifer raised a pitch black brow, as a faint smile touched her lips.

"Ezekiel hasn't deviated much." The woman offered simply, being twins meant that their serial numbers were only one number apart; and his password hadn't been difficult to guess.

"...Nanatsusaya no Mitama no Tsurugi." The simper on his features faded and his clear gray eyes narrowed fractionally. "The question I have Azreal, is why do you know about that sword?" He watched the panic slice through her calm demeanor for an instant, and just as quickly it was gone.

"Where did you get it and when?" He searched her vacant silver eyes for an answer, as she set the Ark Tablet on the nearest table and it allowed him a view of a newspaper headline that bore the terrible pseudonym attached to her name.

"Father..." She turned to face him "After... the last time we met. It was His gift..." Azreal stood suddenly, her steps took her to the doorway of the balcony; but strong hands reached over her to keep it in place. Azreal felt his body against her own, his warmth seeped through the thin silk and her stomach clenched in a bizarre fit of tension.

"You were betrayed by our Creator. Don't be blind to that anymore Azreal." Lucifer whispered against her ear, it sent a shiver down her spine and her gasp left a circle of fog on the glass.

"I know that." Azreal responded breathlessly. "But I need to know how that sword ended up in Alexiel's possession."

"I can tell you." Lucifer professed softly against the skin of her neck, he grinned sharply as her back arched against him.

"Then tell me." The fallen angel challenged and she steadied herself against the window, silver eyes shut as her body shook under the weight of the temptation he whispered against her neck. Lucifer's long tapered fingers absentmindedly stroked his chin, as he stirred memories that weren't entirely his.

"By the time she came to collect, that evil sword had passed through thousands of hands; all of them driven insane or to suicide." He inhaled the scent of moonlilies and subtle unrecognizable fruits. "Finding that they couldn't destroy it, Heaven sealed it away."

"Why did it give itself to her?" Azreal told herself to move, and as she committed to the thought she felt his nails scrape lightly against the tan silk over her spine. Her head tipped back against his chest and she gave him a bewildered mewl; a faint flush stained her cheeks as he took advantage of the newly exposed flesh. Lucifer moved his tongue in small circles across her neck and shoulder as his hands slid down the front of her dress. He stopped suddenly and turned her around; he contemplated her question for a moment, there were times when his own feelings and Nanatsusaya's were impossible to differentiate. The soul trapped inside that sword had loved her unconditionally and though his intentions had been different at first, something had brought him back to her decades later.

"I don't know the answer to that question." It hadn't been the first time he'd brought their lips together, but unlike that first time it wasn't to ensure his victory in a battle he'd already lost. It was far too eager and he was lost in the simple desire of pressing her pliant body against his own. They parted with short heavy gasps, and Azreal wasn't ignorant of the possessive gaze that swept over her. Those gray eyes bore the weight of desire and she felt her body betray a lifetime of service to a Creator who denied his first children a sensation as pure as pleasure.

"Come to bed with me." He whispered as she shook out a breath as his mouth closed over her jaw and worked lower as his hands roamed higher. "Please." He begged into the hollow of her throat and her fingers dug into his shoulders as she nodded desperately.

†

Azreal woke up to the unfamiliar warmth of a naked body pressed against her own, and in the moonlight she saw Lucifer's arm under her head with his fingers clutching at a length of her dark hair. She watched his hand flex softly and he gently entangled his hands deeper in the strands of blue, she knew right away that he was awake. The soreness between her legs intensified when one of his arms moved from her waist to her hip, and settled only when exhaustion took her back to sleep.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

Nothing really explicit happened so the rating won't be changing. I'm throwing around the possibility of writing what exactly happened between them. But it will probably be posted on the tumblr I keep for the story! Thats right, you can get up close and personal with COS and take a look at what inspires me to keep this story going.

comingoftheseraph is the tumblr handle

Stop in and say hi!


	8. Chapter 8

Are you over the age of 16 and want to read about the night Azreal spent with Lucifer in the previous chapter? Well then head to my profile and check out '_And We'll Pray That There's No God To Punish Us_' Enjoy that and the new chapter~

* * *

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 8

†

Lucifer had been awake for the better part of an hour before he heard the balcony door open, in his peripheral vision he spotted her; wrapped in a white bed sheet that hung loosely off her shoulders. Azreal shivered in the cool morning and silently watched a charm of hummingbirds hover cautiously closer to the outstretched arm he offered. He went inhumanly still as the first small bird landed gently in the palm of his hand, searching for whatever had lured it in from the beginning. It's vibrant green body was abruptly crushed, but it wasn't blood that oozed out of Lucifer's hand; it was pitch black darkness. The same evil that had infected her celestial aura after eons of sleep in his Hell. He opened his hand and what was left was a weathered bird with oily black feathers and urine yellow eyes. It squawked dryly and snapped its serrated beak at him before taking to the air. Within a minute another small purple hummingbird fell into the same trap.

"I want to teach you to use the power you absorbed in Hell." Lucifer said quietly as the hideous conjuration in his hand shook out its long creased feathers. Their eyes met and he beckoned her closer, helping her out onto the stone outcropping that no doubt had once housed some exquisite stone creature.

"Put your hand beneath mine." He ordered softly as their bodies pressed together on the small pedestal. The third bird landed on the tip of his longest finger as Azreal spread her smaller hand beneath his; she felt his warmth and with it the image of those hands splayed across her body. The woman shook the thought away as the small red beaked bird pinched the tip of Lucifer's thumb and hopped down into the palm of his hand. It sensed its oncoming demise a fraction of a second too late and chirruped frantically before his hand closed completely over the creature's body. Azreal's fingers folded over his slowly, her eyes wide; as an angel he'd had impressive power, and it had only grown when they'd become Seraphim. But now it was beyond anything she could imagine, he had taken Hell and from it he'd made himself nothing short of a dark godling.

"It isn't difficult." Lucifer switched the placement of their hands and they didn't have to wait long for a small green and blue hummingbird to hesitantly land in her palm. She felt his power, it called to what was already staining her and together they broke the body of the animal. The little demon bird shook out its dark feathers and rose into the air, squabbling with its brothers. In silence they stretched out their hands and the charm became a thick muster of cawing demonic birds that swept through the air, losing feathers as they circled overhead.

"This darkness gives itself over easily and someone as strong as you must seem like a feast to it." Lucifer whispered and she shivered at the thought of letting that power consume the rest of her aura.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself." Azreal scolded softly at the lips that nipped at her ear. "That young Cherub is spying on us."

"Maybe that's what he wants." He said and stroked the head of the creature perched on her outstretched arm.

"Absolutely insatiable." She feels the smile pressed into her neck and shivered again as his other hand gathered the white cloth until she felt his fingers brush the four faint bruises he'd left on her hips that morning.

"Lucifer." Katan frowned as he studied the ugly creatures massed around the fallen angels. "Rosiel-sama is calling for you." Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he gave the Cherub a sidelong stare and he stepped across the stone outcropping, turning to help the half-naked woman.

"Get dressed then come find me." Hell's king tipped her head back and he waited until she nodded before kissing her deeply. He met Katan's eyes as he released her and wore a satisfied smirk as he headed into the disheveled corridor. The Cherub turned his attention to the Angel of Death, her silver eyes were distantly focused on the Devil and after a long moment she released the breath caught in her chest.

"You're the third chair aren't you?" Her attention fell on the white haired young man who strained to square his shoulders more. "Do you know my brother?"

"Not personally" Katan replied roughly, as she padded closer.

"Ezekiel was never very personable." Their eyes made contact for a moment, but it was all Katan needed to see the madness threatening to snap open at any moment.

†

"Where is Azreal, Lucifer?" Rosiel called out the moment Lucifer entered the room, his slim body was wrapped in a snug red vest and the sleeves of his white undershirt were rolled up to the elbows.

"Dressing." Lucifer watched the Inorganic Angel's smile widen exponentially.

"We'll give her a moment then, hmm?" Rosiel said in a tone that implied he knew exactly why she had taken her clothes off to begin with. Minutes of silence gave Rosiel enough time to appreciate the fact that Azreal was serving her secret purpose. He hadn't just wanted the unrelenting power and skill that belonged to the Angel of Death; he'd wanted a woman- the only woman who could ever hope to distract the Lord of Hell long enough for him to steal away Alexiel. Katan stiffly entered the room, followed by Azreal who wore simple black leggings and a sleeved shirt.

"Come my pets. I've got something very interesting to show you." Rosiel beckoned with a pat on his thigh and led the ex-angels to a small cell filled with with child-sized furnishing and toys. Behind the wall of reinforced glass the toddler angel king Metatron stood over the mangled remains of a maid, whose torn flesh revealed a metallic ribcage.

"You've got quite a bit of power in you, my little prince." The Inorganic Angel rested a hand on his hip. "Its obvious that we can't allow anything alive near you. You'll either gobble up that energy or try and make it your mother." Large gold eyes turned to his beloved monsters.

"I don't think either of you ever met Metatron's twin. His name is Sandalphon and he is a dream eater." Azreal's expression turned skeptical.

"Medical reports listed Metatron's twin as stillborn."

"Would you still have approved the request to allow the science sector to use the body for research if they had told you the truth?" Rosiel raised a pale brow, his smile never faded. "No, he was simply left without a proper body and now that he's escaped his Cradle he's looking for a new one. But Lailah's suicide has left you without a body or a mother, huh?" The child's sclera turned blood red and he snarled at the Inorganic Angel, crushing the robots chest beneath his small booted feet.

"Metatron's body is also your body, right? That's why you were forced back into it, of course. So who do you intend on making your next pitiful mother?"

"You... You think that accursed pile of meat and bones inside that wretched oversized bottle is my true form!?" Sandalphon screamed in a raw voice unsuited for a child and he stood up, slamming his fists into the layered glass wall. "What could someone who was born as beautiful as you know?!" The fallen angels watched the smile on Rosiel's face disappear and his gold eyes narrowed darkly.

"My Father. OUR GOD! Chose me to bring upon the apocalypse. He gave me the power to knock down the ones who dare to think they stand above me. Even the Organic and Inorganic angels will prostrate themselves in the face of my power." The glass flexed as the red-eyed angel's powers flared from his tiny body. "And I have already found the woman who will give me my body. That little human girl that Metatron is so enamored with. They call her Sara, and it is truly appropriate that Gabriel should be my mother." His fury fell to a whisper and one small finger moved across the window to each of the older beings in the room. "And when I have my own body I will eat you Rosiel... I'll devour each and every one of your filthy souls."

"Well. I'll be looking forward to that, Sandalphon." Rosiel's words were laced with venom. "With me, Lucifer. Katan, take her back to her room." Lucifer silently followed their master, who stormed out of the room.

†

It was nearly nightfall when Azreal was summoned to Rosiel and she followed the maids in silence to a tea room. Unlike most of the other rooms of the castle this one had been marginally untouched by Rosiel's would-be assassin's and offered a glimpse at the lavish lifestyle the Inorganic Angel enjoyed.

"Come sit. I wanted to speak to you about something." Rosiel beckoned to the high backed chair, and poured tea into delicate gold painted china. Azreal's eyes flicked to Lucifer, who stood against the wall, his arms crossed and his eyes bore the warning she against didn't need.

"I've always been curious about how the Grand Cross works, at least for the Zodiac Angels." The Angel Lord sat back comfortably and stirred a mountain of sugar into his tea.

"I don't think they could tell you either. Its not as if they know the prayer, its written on their bodies." Azreal felt her fingers fidget beneath the table. "We need the twelve fragments of the Enochian spell that is on their bodies."

"Do you know exactly what we need from who?" Rosiel raised a pale eyebrow and swished the contents of his teacup around.

"Yes. Maladidael's portion is carved into the inside of his skull. Asmodel's is on his chest. Ambiel's is tattooed in the tongue of her lower head. Manuel's is on the wings, I forget which one exactly. The list goes on." Azreal waved a hand absently. "The point is that those pieces need to be preserved, collected, and placed within a circle of power. Then the Grand Cross will activate when the circle is sealed."

"Will they see our attempt to kill them?" The Inorganic Angel's golden eyes were bright with interest.

"They will, but any variants that predict our success will be dismissed, they'll think themselves immortal, but assume otherwise." Fingernails clicked anxiously against the table, it felt wrong to share secrets she had kept for centuries.

"Whats the best strategy for you and Lucifer to use?" Rosiel served himself more tea and sugar, offering her the same.

"Two against twelve... thirteen if you count Ezekiel. I'll deal with my brother." Her eyes met Lucifer's as her hands declined Rosiel's offer. "As for the Council. One at a time, if we get separated the focus becomes to get back together. And what month is it on Assiah?"

"The 7th one." Rosiel answered promptly and leaned forward with his elbows on the table.

"Manuel will be in power. The strongest of the water signs. He'll pose the most opposition, but the fire signs will be in retrograde-" An alarm in the hallway screamed to life and the Inorganic Angel frowned.

"It looks like Sandalphon has escaped." Rosiel rose to the window, watching the small six-winged nightmare take to the night sky. "We'll give him a 10 minute head start while you two change. Then you can take one of the smaller merkaba and follow him." His brows knitted and he crossed him arms. Azreal rose as Lucifer reached the doorway.

"And." The ex-angels paused in the doorway. "Make certain that he finds Sara Mudou."

†

"Contact has been made." Azreal's tone was vehement, they'd had their argument about letting that nightmare rape the girl and she had lost; but it was too late now. It had taken Sandalphon the entire night and most of the morning but he had found his surrogate mother in the mansion of the Great Virtue.

"A merkaba has entered our airspace, its reading as the Great Virtue's." The pilot of the airship had the same monotonous tone of voice as most of Rosiel's staff and pointed to flashing alert on the radar.

"Keep us cloaked, they've got more important things on their minds right now." Lucifer ordered and they silently waited until the airship landed before speaking again.

"He's...taken an adult form..." Azreal reported and furious silver eyes turned away from the monitor that offered a birds eye view of the Dream Eater having his way with Sara Mudou, the smile on her face made her tears ones of joy.

"Another merkaba inbound. Michael-sama's personal ship." Another red dot flew across the radar and a second monitor watched the small airship make a bumpy landing. Two figures emerged, Fire and Air she told herself and her skin prickled with the memory of the power they could use together. Another inhuman scream drew their attention back to the confrontation between the Messiah and Sandalphon, Uriel had used his Earth magic to snare the Dream Eater's red-eyed wings, but Setsuna's attack had done nothing to the creature. The sudden metallic shriek of Nanatsusaya reached Azreal's ears and she cringed as its dark energy flared; after a moment there was silence again and her eyes went wide with sudden terrible realization. The evil of that sword had not been as corporeal when it had been given to her. Yes, it had been ravenous for blood and with each demon felled it sang for more. But she hadn't know that his aura was as black as the one in that sword, she hadn't known that the voice that had begged for her name was his, she hadn't known that the manifestation of her madness hadn't been a complete hallucination, and she hadn't know that God had gone that far.

†

"Do you see him?" Uriel shouted, his green eyes scanned over the ruins of Raphael's mansion for the body of the Metatron. Setsuna groaned and rubbed at the back his head, flakes of drywall shook free but no blood, and he sighed with relief as he stood. Sandalphon had disappeared, and a single thought cut through Setsuna's swimming head.

"SARA!" He screamed and climbed across rubble to the unconscious young woman. He said her name again and again as his hands felt the warmth of skin he'd scoured across the universe for.

"Sara its me..." Her eyes cracked open at the voice of the man she loved. "I'm here, Sara." The sound of a slap drew the Earth Angel's attention from the search for the body of the young Seraph and he turned in time to see face of the Messiah's beloved contort into one of absolute terror.

"GET AWAY FROM ME! YOU MONSTER!" She wailed and pulled her body into a tight ball. "I can tell. You aren't my Setsuna. So stay away you disgusting thing I won't let you hurt my baby!" Her hands press lovingly across her stomach and she can already feel her red-eyed baby squirming inside her. The glassy look vacant look in her eyes is one of dreaming and Setsuna knelt before her, shaking her with more force than he ever wanted to use against her.

"Its me Sara... IT'S ME SETSUNA! WAKE UP AND LOOK AT ME."

"STOP!" Setsuna barely had time to register that the voice belongs to the Air Angel before he feels hands pulling him away. "Let me examine her, Messiah."

"GET AWAY. DON'T TOUCH HER!" Setsuna shoved the blonde angel away and threw himself into her arms. "Please wake up Sara!" She screamed and her fingers clawed for a chunk of debris and the first blow against the already sore back of his head draws blood.

"Jesus fucking Christ." Michael rolled his eyes and he stepped behind the delirious human girl, the blow that he delivered to the back of her head is concise and strong enough to knock her unconscious. "There you go, shut her up and made it easier to get her to the Cradle."

"We need to find Metatron first..." Uriel frowned as he again searched for the unmistakable patch of emerald green hair.

"He's not over here." Moonlily clamored through a small opening in the wall, her veil askew as she rejoined the group.

"Find him. The only way to wake Sara from her nightmare is to free her heart from Sandalphon's true body." Raphael said rapidly as he soothed the welt Michael had left on the back of Sara's head. There is a scream, the undeniable sobbing sounds of a child and their eyes are drawn several yards across the estate to a black cloaked figure crouched on a collapsed wall, facing away from the group.

"Oh shit..." Its Michael's voice that made her head snap up and slowly her head turned in the direction of the angels; there was distress written in her expression, but wide eyes radiated odious madness. She stood and turned to face them, the fingers of her left hand were tangled in the emerald green hair of the Great Seraph. Metatron wailed in pain and writhed in her grip, with tears staining his cheeks he reached to the Elemental Angels for help.

"Azreal..." Uriel took a step forward and regretted the action when dilated black iris' snapped to him. A cool breeze shook the black feathers on her jacket's collar and a flicker of gold caught a glimpse of sunlight beneath the black material.

"Uriel?" Her head cocked to the side and he cringed as her fingers tightened around the child's hair and scalp.

"Please. Let me have him." The Earth Angel said in a tone that was usually reserved for rabid animals. "He's a child."

"Give me the Messiah." Azreal smiled maliciously and any trace of her previous fear was suddenly gone.

"Put him down." Raphael's firm voice pulled her attention to him and her head cocked to the side as he stood up from Sara's side.

"This isn't a negotiation." He would have liked to have believed that he'd handled her in this state before; but there had been sedatives, restraints, and she'd never seemed so dangerous. Her eyes narrowed suddenly and she looked at the slabs of concrete around her.

"Then I'll make it one." She snapped a nearby length of rebar from its cement case and plunged it through the torso of the naked toddler. He screamed, but it was more blood than noise that gurgled out of his mouth.

"STOP! AZREAL STOP!" The doctor shouted as she threatened to twist the rusted steel out. Metatron had never known such extraordinary pain in the thousands of years he had lived and the only way his little body could handle it was to shut down almost completely. Limply he hung in her hand, his green eyes half-closed and focused on Sara; silently babbling the name of the Water Angel.

"If he dies, then Sandalphon will die and you won't be able to heal your dear Sara. So make your choice." The edge of her floor length jacket is swept back by the growing strength of the wind around them. Her long legs are sheathed in gold armor and the black heelless boots are speckled with flat gold studs. Air and Fire exchange nods, and she grins madly as wave of super-heated flame comes into contact with a sphere of black energy.

"I told you to kill the Metatron. Not play games." Lucifer frowned as he appeared beside her, and he tore the other foot of rebar out of the child's back. Azreal lifted the boy to eye-level as he seized violently and she tossed his finally still body to the side.

"It was you..." Setsuna had wondered how he hadn't recognized it before. "You were the one who gave Nanatsusaya power. You knew that Sara was being...But you waited until Metatron was able to reveal the third eye. And you caused the death of an innocent child." He pulled Sara closer and Azreal can see near invisible strain in Lucifer's shoulders.

"And you..." The Messiah looked up, choking on the tears in his eyes. "You used Sara as bait for Sandalphon! TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE SEMPAI! TELL ME YOU HAVEN'T BECOME THIS EVIL!" Michael's teal eyes went wide as Setsuna's words sunk in fully.

"Brother... YOU BASTARD!" The Fire Angel's aura unintentionally scorched the air around him, but he's frozen in place as the black gauntlet on his twin's arm takes the shape of a curved black blade.

"Do you know why angels exist?" Dark gray eyes read the emotions on each of the conscious elemental angels. "Its not to shine as pillars of holiness and its certainly not to guide lost souls to Heaven. We are the errors born of our Creator's delirious ideals of perfection, primordial guardians of powers beyond the understanding of our mortal brothers; but errors nonetheless. Etemenanki has the real answers and if you are willing to gaze upon the hopelessness it brings then open the Gate for yourselves." Azreal's eyes narrowed in his direction as he declared their intentions to the Messiah and his comrades. The fallen angels turn to exit the skeletal ruins of Raphael's home and Setsuna's voice is hardly audible over the sound of Michael's fire. The flames met another wall of Lucifer's energy and Michael fell to his knees, confirming once and for all that the man in front of his was truly his brother.

"Enough!" Azreal screamed and the poisonous smile returned as she reached over her shoulder to summon Tenkahane from the astral plane, she shook the Devil's hand off her shoulder and leapt from the platform to join the enormous demons that had been summoned.

"MESSIAH! FIGHT!" Michael screamed he sliced cleanly through the body of the first demon, but behind the demon is Azreal and their swords clangor hideously against one another. The second monstrosity lumbered towards the Messiah and he only clung tighter to the woman in his arms.

"I always said, did I?" The demon's body fell to two pieces as a new voice shouted over the fighting angels. "You talk too damn much!"

"Katou!?" Setsuna's eyes widened as the blond human made his way to the Demon Lord. Azreal put distance between herself and the Fire Angel who was now more concerned with the human thrusting his katana into the earth. They made eye contact and he shook his head, they had agreed already that if she allowed him to deal with the human named Yue Katou then he would leave her brother's fate up to her.

"Yo." He smiled at a face he knew so well, it was hard to get rid of old habits he supposed. "Ya cut me up pretty bad back there. And hey listen, I don't blame ya or anything, but at least admit that _he's_ still inside of ya. Are you two having problems getting alone? Can't kiss and make up? Well aren't you going to greet me? Kira." Azreal's eyes narrowed again, she'd heard the humans refer to him as Kira before and unlike the Messiah who lamented every moment spent in his presence this boy was harboring vicious anger.

"My left arm rotted off thanks to you and I have to wonder if it was luck that saved my life or if you went easy on me. Look." He held up the empty sleeve of his black leather jacket and his smile was replaced with a frown. "You did this to me, Kira. So was it fear? Are you just the ghost of human after all?" Silence and Lucifer's frown thinned into an unpleasant scowl.

"Am I right? Mister Lord of Hell in 'scissorhands' cosplay?"

"Yue! Don't be so foolish! Stop!" Uriel called and he wanted nothing more then to pull the blonde away, but he can feel Azreal's eyes on him and one wrong move meant a battle he had no desire to fight.

"As for that..." Katou's chin points to the sword in the ground beside him,and he slowly shuffled closer. "My little souvenir of you is brimming with that fiery glow ya were talking about, gotta wonder why ya would fill it up just for me. Oh! Did you want to see the injury you gave me? Guy like you has gotta love seeing his own handiwork right?" His fingers found the zipper slider and a dark mischievous smile smeared its way across his features, as the sharpened metal claws of his new prosthetic arm tear a satisfying hole through the Devil's midsection. Azreal saw the flash of misery cross Lucifer's expression and she lowers the sword in her hand, she mouthed the simple question of 'why' to him; knowing well that she would never get her answer.

"I don't need ya to lend a hand anymore. Never again. Am I'm telling ya now that I don't care whether ya have his memories or not. To me. You. Aren't. Kira, anymore." The metal retracted and Katou shook the blood and bits of leather off. "But I won't forgive ya for living with his face. Or his voice. Or his body. I'm going to make you vanish from my sight."

* * *

**Afterthoughts **

This chapter is being split up into two parts. Otherwise it would be too long and I'm not too big on giant chapters, especially considering my formatting style.


	9. Chapter 9

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 9

†

Setsuna knew he had been avoiding the truth, he had assumed that Rosiel had made a monster with Kira's face to hurt him. And it had worked, but then he'd been shown the videos and images, of the would be Rebel Angel, and learned that Kira had been the one wearing the Devil's face. He met those dispassionate gray eyes and knew that no matter what, his voice would never reach Sakuya Kira again. The Messiah had put himself between Lucifer's reflective black sword and Katou, missing the tip by less than hair. With a piercing metallic howl Nanatsusaya changed in Setsuna's grip, and the power that swelled from the newly evolved saber was nothing like Lucifer's.

"The Nanatsusaya is brimming with power..." Uriel's moss green eyes went wide. "Its only ever responded to Alexiel."

"Its accepted him as its owner." Azreal whispered harshly and they watched the Messiah rip off the brown eye-patch.

"That sword has completely severed itself from my control." Lucifer's eyes narrowed slowly. "So you've finally thrown away your irritating sentiments for the human race? Good."

"No..." Setsuna groaned and felt the relentless itching in his new eye begin to burn. "This. Is my- Our. Determination to fight. For Sempai's sake." The scar tissue on Setsuna's eye smoothed down and he opened it fully. Astral energy rolled off the Messiah in waves and the sound of tearing flesh and cloth made the angels cringe.

"It doesn't matter who your are. As long as you dishonor our past, you won't be forgiven! For the sake of everything that is important to us!" Two immaculate white wings shook off droplets of his blood.

"You are no longer the Kira I knew. You're nothing but the empty shell of a person I treasured. So for my sake and for Kira's. I WILL KILL YOU LUCIFER!" He felt the fear vanish, even as four black wings unfolded and stretched to their full enormous length.

"Very well, Messiah." Lucifer's smirk is colder than before. "Go ahead and try to end this life and all the misery its spread. If you think you can manage that, then we should be trouble for you. What do you say?" Gray eyes shift momentarily to the woman perched on the last standing wall in Raphael's mansion, Azreal's shoulders shook with quiet amusement and they can almost hear the last of her restraint snapping. The Devil was the first one in the air, and the Messiah was right behind him; there is the sound of deranged cackling and Death's hands are on Setsuna's legs. He twisted in place, and the sound of their wings thrashing is like a tempest. Azreal sent the Messiah hurtling back into the Fire and Earth Angels. The teenager stood up and glared at the woman who stood between himself and Lucifer, four ink black wings twitched spasmodically as she hung in the air.

"Get out of the way, Azreal!" Setsuna shouted over the sound of her laughter, she went dangerously silent, scowling at the human addressing her.

_Kilthemkillthemkillthem!_ The voice of her insanity compelled and her silver eyes became nothing short of savage. The fallen angel ran her hand across the broad side of her sword and raw electrical energy ignited through the sword. Alexiel's third wing tore its way through the center of Setsuna's back and the rebirth of the Organic Angel was finally complete.

"So you've finally awakened." Lucifer recognized the angelic form of fighting that Setsuna positioned himself into, a sphere of ethereal power forming around the Messiah, Sara, and Katou. "You angels and your selfish genes." Undoubtedly by now they could feel the amount of power he's summoned, and the angels built their own walls of protective energy in response. Azreal's eyes narrowed at the strength of the powers building on either side of her. She heard her name from behind and with a single horizontal swing she sent a storm of white lightning that connected with and abolished their shields.

"Do it NOW!" Azreal screamed as she put herself behind the Demon Lord, her fingers dug into his shoulders to urge him on. The explosion engulfed the ground below them and they are gone before the full blast can reach them.

†

Through the windows he saw her sitting on the stone railing of the balcony, beneath the moonlight her dark cerulean hair is a bright smear of color against an otherwise dark setting. She was staring at her hand, tracking the white jagged lines of lightning that snapped between her outstretched fingers. Every so often one of those lines was pitch black and her entire body shook with dread. Pale eyes gave him a moment of attention and he felt that silent wrath bury itself deep in his chest. Lucifer hadn't seen that controlled anger in centuries, and once again it was all his; he crossed the balcony's patio and whatever spiteful words were on her mind died as he tangled his fingers in her dark blue hair. He pulled her head back and bent to put his mouth to hers, the taste of the figs that had been left in a bowl beside her is infinitely better than the gardenia perfume Rosiel covered his rotting body with. The other hand craved for the feeling of flesh that wasn't clammy or rigid with phlebitis, and he slid his hand down her neck and under the black material of her shirt.

"Who is Sakuya Kira?" Azreal bit his lower lip and felt the hand on her breast go still. "And don't tell me I won't understand." She released him, but her arms reach up around his neck to keep him from leaving her question unanswered.

"He was Nanatsusaya's last human life." The words hung in the inches of space between them and his fingers threaded through her needle straight hair. It had grown several inches in the past two days, exactly as his had. He was surprised she hadn't cut it yet, and he'd never say how much he wished she wouldn't.

"That doesn't mean you understand though." His hand slid lower and she stretched herself for him in response.

"Maybe." Azreal admitted and pulled him closer, pressing her cool cheek to the warmth of his neck. He smelled like Rosiel at first, but beneath that suffocatingly sweet scent there is a taste of roses and sandalwood.

"But that doesn't mean that I don't know what He did to you. To me." Fingertips found their way beneath the waistband of her black leggings.

"And I want to be the one." There is no insane smile on her face, just the woman he'd known centuries ago. "That helps you make Him answer for the depravity he's wrought. Against us. Against our brothers. Against the ones still trapped in his lie called Heaven." Her sacrilege stirred the storm of hatred and bitterness that had gone dormant in the wake having his soul stripped clean, add to that Nanatsusaya's undying devotion to Alexiel and it was obvious that God had quelled his rebellious son's rage the only he could. By enslaving him to minds and bodies too weak to withstand the tremendous power of Hell.

"Take me to the Zodiac Angels, and I will end their miserable old lives for you." Azreal promised and her hands ran tenderly through his hair as she pulled his mouth back to hers, and this time she parted her lips for him first. She can't think over the sound of her heartbeat, and she was hardly able to acknowledge that he'd pulled her thin black shirt over her head. The sensation of her hand in his is the only thing she remembered of their journey back to the bed he's shared with her twice already. Azreal's hands were tugging at his clothing when the sound of his infrequent chuckle momentarily numbed the overwhelming desire she had to feel his hands on her again.

"Why are you shaking?" He asked lightly as he worked to effortlessly strip them both. "Aren't you the one that wants this? Maybe just as much as I do..." She said nothing, but the color on her cheeks spoke volumes instead. Lucifer sat back on the bed and waited until she was brave enough to look him in the eyes again. The smirk on his fine, thin lips was shameless as he leaned forward. Hovering over her long enough to take her hips roughly in his hands. She gasped as she was pulled forward and up until she's straddled completely in his lap. Her arms slid around his neck and her nails left thin lines as he pressed her down onto himself. They gasped together and move in a rhythm that left crescent shaped bite marks on her shoulders. Gray eyes watched Azreal's naked back arch as his name rode out the length of her peak, and he kept the pace long enough to satisfy himself. She would wake up alone in the dark, not knowing that he'd gone to press his forehead against the door that Rosiel had locked. The door that led to the alter that the Inorganic Angel built for the body of his sister, he smelled the flowers that are nestled against Alexiel's lifeless shell. He imagined the waves of long mahogany hair, and every fleck of green in those inaccessible hazel eyes; but the angry red marks on his back did not belong to those warm calloused hands.

†

"He'll have 15 minutes to convince the Council to allow him through the Gate." Ezekiel stood outside of the Zodiac Angel's chamber, speaking quietly into the black cell phone. He shivered, the morning had left a cold sting in the air and he pulled the navy blue wool jacket tighter around himself.

"Thats it?!" He heard Michael holler, another voice that he recognized as the Great Virtue silenced him a moment later.

"That's more than they originally offered." The Cherub replied with a frown. "I only managed to convince them by showing them the surveillance images of Lakia. I guess that was their sign to start taking Lucifer seriously."

"God's barrier has completely collapsed. We should have been taking them both seriously from the beginning." Uriel steepled his fingers together over the conference table. "And if what we're picking up through the channels is correct, then Lucifer's army has already started its invasion."

"I've sent a majority of my forces to the front to support the Powers, but there should be a small battalion inbound to you. Also, Raziel." Aquamarine eyes stared up at a cloudless sky of the same color. The much younger blonde angel confirmed his attention to the de-facto leader of the Cherubs; Dobiel's disappearance and Katan's rank dissolvement had left the 4th chair in charge of an entire rank of first-sphere angels.

"I've sent word to the Cherubs. They'll be taking their orders from you and the Anima Mundi until the end of the battle. If Rosiel is looking to enter Etemenanki, he'll have to trigger the Grand Cross." He ignored the sound of large beating wings.

"Thank you, Ezekiel-sama." Raziel nodded and turned to the console beside him, preparing to integrate to the several thousand new assets in the Anima Mundi.

"You know as well as we do that the path to Atziluth is a difficult one. This storm is making progress impossible, all of our radars are down." Uriel reported, as he watched the Doppler radar track the enormous maelstrom that impeded their progress.

"Yea... Well. If you can't get through, then they'll have just as much trouble." Ezekiel said mostly to himself as he ended the call.

"Unless of course, it's your sister that's conjured up a storm large enough to keep the angels at bay." The Angel of Logic followed the sound of Lucifer's voice, finding him at the end of the long walkway between the Observatory and the enormous convex bowl that housed the 12 Zodiac Angels.

"There's always that." Ezekiel narrowed his eyes and reached for the sword strapped to his back with his left hand. Tenkaheta; the sister of Azreal's Tenkahane, twin swords that had been made for them by the Zodiac Angels. As tall as their shoulders the flat tips of the swords were razor sharp and that edge carried over to opposing edges for twins with opposite dominant hands. Like most of the ancient swords the silver guard formed the horizontal line of the cross that tapered into points. Black leather sheathed the hilt and like the sharpened tips of the guard, the pommel came to the same narrow point. The Cherub moved in a blur with Tenkahate poised to strike, but the ether blade connected with another sword that he recognized in an instant. He'd forgotten how fast she was and as their swords slid to the guards their eyes met for the first time in eons.

"Hello, brother." Azreal waited for the echo of their screaming swords to die before speaking, and the words were frozen beneath hostile silver eyes. He had always known that in the end she would side with him, but the sight of her standing in defense of the man who'd destroyed his twin made the blood in his veins boil.

"Neither of you will enter this place!" Ezekiel spat, and their swords struck one another again. She knew he was stronger at least physically, and she frowned at the metric tons of pressure Tenkahate rattled through her right arm.

"We'll see, won't we?" The woman gave him a dangerous grin and covered the distance between them in seconds. Their swords sent out sparks as they fed primeval lightning into the ether swords, and his sisters manic laughter was lost in the sound of clashing blades. The Council's keeper finally knocked his sister's arms back and his boot slammed into her knee. She screamed and buckled, falling back in time to catch the false edge of her sword as Ezekiel laid the full force of his strength against her. The stone walkway under her back caved almost a foot deep.

"How do you expect to keep up that storm and fight me at the same time? Little. Sister." Aquamarine eyes were alive with hate and it felt good to see a moment of torment in her eyes, she knew then that she couldn't do both and severed her power from the storm. They didn't need it, it was a guarantee on top of a sure thing, by the time the Messiah came, the Council would be dead. The sword came down on her again, and the third impact caused the cement to give way completely. The fallen angel disappeared in a cloud of gray stone particles.

"Now you!" Ezekiel jumped over the gap and charged the Demon Lord, who'd been watching the duel with a content air of impassiveness. He doesn't move beneath the large black cape that occasionally caught some measure of breeze. Azreal is up and over the side of the passage in a blur, four stained wings unfolded to add weight and celestial strength to to the leap she took at her brother. It helped to knock her twin across the large gap between the walkway and the walls, and he collided painfully against the white panels of alloyed steel. He peeled himself out of the dented wall in time to avoid the side of her sword. Two long white wings caught his fall before gold speckled heelless boots could crush his windpipe. He put enough distance between them to strategically plan out the remainder of the battle.

"STOP RUNNING EZEKIEL!" He heard her scream as he pivoted around to meet Tenkahane with Tenkahate; he deflected, but allowed the momentum to carry through and as she's recovering her balance his fist slammed squarely in her sternum. Azreal is sent flying back into the walkway, she landed against the waist high wall with an angry scream. The woman clutched at her chest, each breath like fire and she can't tell if the bone connecting her ribs is broken or bruised.

_You could give yourself to it..._ Its a slightly less murderous voice that offered up the easiest way to end her brother's life. She grunted her painful decline and tried to catch her breath, as her brother landed beside her.

_You've already given yourself to him... There's no shame in using that power... _The pain in her bones focused with each breath and she glared at Ezekiel as he knelt before her. His fingers on her cheek are as cold as the air around him and she can feel the underlying electrical energy dance across her skin.

_He taught you. He wants you to use it... _The voices in Azreal's head are too loud to hear what he said, but the ex-angel understood well enough when he yanked her sharply up by the hair. She shrieked and resisted with her hands on his shoulders.

"Get UP." He hissed and is only aware of the thin black spike that's impaled its way through his lung, ribs, and scapula in an instant of blinding pain. He staggered back, his eyes as wide as her's as she stood. Tenkahane caught the sunlight in a horrific warning, but at the last possible second the fallen angel turned the blade and struck her twin with the broad side.

"It would be easier to kill him now." Lucifer watched the Angel of Logic crumple to the ground, unconscious.

"Don't." The woman said firmly and bent to scoop up her sword's twin. "Don't ask me to do something like that." Silver eyes stared at the man that was her brother, the blood staining his uniform made her lower lip quiver.

"He'll never forgive you. For letting him live." The Devil whispered and he eyed the edges of the bruise forming under the black feathers on her jackets collar.

"That will make two of us then, won't it?" She said into the sky, and threw the blade over the edge of the walkway. Lucifer said nothing.

†

"I'm only going to tell you once." Azreal glared over, as they reached the door. "Their bodies must be preserved."

"I am aware." Lucifer frowned at the breathless way she was speaking. The pain in her chest had come down to a tolerable strain and she focused every sane thought in her head on the task at hand.

"Malahidael's is carved into his skull, under his forehead. Asmodel has his scarred into his chest. Hamaliel's is in her heart. Ambiel's is on the other head...The real one." Azreal paused to give her chest a moment of rest. "Manuel's is etched into the bones of his wings. Verchiel's is burned into his spinal column. Zuriel's is on his back. Ba-" She inhaled and exhaled slowly for a moment, her hand applying enough pressure to her sternum to make sure nothing is broken.

"Have you broken a rib?" Lucifer raised a brow, reaching for her shoulder.

"No. Ezekiel is just that strong." The woman flinched and continued with little hesitation. "Barchiel has two segments, one for each of the signs she represents. They are on her legs. Advachiel's is in his eye. Hamael's is on his tail, its poisonous by the way. And Canbiel's is on his beak. Stick together, and keep Manuel for last."

"One at a time." Lucifer nodded and they threw the doors of the atrium open.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

What have I gotten myself into? The two vs twelve battle will take up almost all of the next chapter and it will probably be VERY long. I might split it up to add a little bit more meat to the chapter count.


	10. Chapter 10

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 10

†

"Ho hoooo. How many centuries has it been since we've had guests? We know who you are oh, unfathomable Lord of Darkness." Black to gold ombre eyes passed slowly over the fallen angels. "How can we ever express our gratitude for reuniting us with our daughter?" The Council's attention shifted in unison to Azreal, who kept her focus on the Aries.

"Have you slain your brother, child?" Verchiel, astral governor of Leo had a raspy voice that was muffled further by the bandages wrapped tightly around his jaw and the right side of his face. He blinked a single rust colored eye and stood from his seat, loudly shaking his large white and brown mottled wings.

"He is not dead." Malahidael's low tenor reverberated in the large day lit domed room "We will see to our son when the Fallen are vanquished."

"Do you truly think you possess the power to defeat us?" Hamael growled; behind his enormous frame, a scaled dark sea-green tail twisted in frustration, and his glowing white eyes narrowed beneath the dark worn cloth obscuring a body that only their Creator could envision. On all fours the Capricorn dashed at the fallen angels, large clawed arms extended in deadly intent. They met Lucifer's sword, and he failed to see the spike-tipped tail snap over the angel's head.

"The tail!" Azreal snarled as she struck it back, with main force she kicked the beast in the head and stepped onto it's back; shoving Tenkahane through the base of Capricorn's skull. It sunk into the polished white marble with a spray of viscous blood. With a single twist, Lucifer snapped the tail from the spine; tearing through ligaments and flesh to collect the poisonous appendage.

"Come and see." Azreal challenged, pointing her sword at Malahidael; the scarlet lines brushed against his sharp cheekbones crinkled as his smile widened. Blood was sprayed across her face and dark droplets streamed down her neck to the dark feathers of her long black coat. They had seen this vision countless times over the centuries following her fall from grace, but that blood had always been her own and those silver eyes had been serenely shut in death. Now the Angel of Death had taken her place beside the Black King and that warm red liquid belonged to one of their own.

"...Well." Eleven angels said in perfect unison. "Whatever shall we do?" The circle of voices overhead was as disorientating as Azreal remembered and her back briefly made contact with Lucifer's.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lucifer pulled the black cloak from his shoulders, they wore the same antagonistic smile. "You'll attack us with everything you can."

The Zodiac Angels howled together at his threat and closed in on the fallen angels. They tore through the group with ease, snagging the ink black arms of Taurus's governor first. Asmodel was slammed through glass and stainless steel into one of the meditative alcoves the Zodiac Angels used for musing into the future. He kicked at the Devil with bare feet and Lucifer wasn't given enough time to enjoy the angel's pointless struggle before they were followed by a wave of screeching angelic monsters. With his curved black blade, Lucifer eviscerated the naked torso of the black creature. Entrails spilled onto the white cloth secured around his torso and the jeweled fabric was stained dark red.

"Foolish little Seraphs." Ambiel screamed, as Azreal pushed back the horde of encircling angels. They stepped out of the alcove and landed together to greet Ambiel's challenge with cruel smiles. Silver tipped wings were flared out to their fullest and they felt her focus on them despite the empty white space of her eyes. She was Gemini, an air sign and her magic was much like the Elemental Angel who embodied the same school of magic. Her fair skin and the white veil of her habit contrasted heavily with the dark mulberry stain on her lips. She opened her mouths and the action was followed shortly by the the unmistakable sound of both jaws unhinging. Gemini screamed, and the air wave was amplified a thousands times over until the glass around them shattered.

"Don't let her do that again." There was blood dripping down Lucifer's neck from his ear, and she instinctively checked her own to find nothing.

"Take the top head, I'll get the lower." Azreal said breathlessly and their charge was met halfway by the Gemini who slid two ether daggers from her black habit and deflected the first round of blows. Ambiel inhaled again, and before she could use her magic a second time Lucifer's blade sword sliced through the mouth of the false head.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING DARK ONE!" She shrieked and plunged both daggers into Lucifer's chest. He kicked the astrological being back as Tenkahane swung down on the angel's extended arms. Lucifer pulled the knives from his chest, the holes closed over almost instantly. Azreal swallowed painfully, wishing that the burning ache in her ribcage would do the same. She stood over the writhing governor of Gemini, her pained and powerless screams brought the others rushing forward and Lucifer restarted the battle without her.

"Poisonous little witch!" The angel whispered loosing blood fast, her already pale skin was blanched to near perfect white. "You've shared the secrets of the Grand Cross." Lightning silenced the already dying woman, and Azreal held onto the Gemini's neck until the habit began to smoke. The neck snapped first and the fallen angel put a gold studded boot on the dead angel's shoulder to rip it free of the body.

†

Hamaliel's spine was broken by the pommel of Azreal's sword in three consecutive blows, with an agonized sob the paralyzed Virgo collapsed to the ground, a black leather boot smashed through the gem encrusted mask hiding a woman who's Renaissance beauty had been touched with their Creator's vision. She was completely hairless, and had flaky rose-gold around her mouth and large olive green eyes; there was blood from her broken nose oozing down her cheek. She was unable to see who owned the hand that dragged her limp body to its knees, she could only watch Lucifer's black sword change shape into a five sharp claws that fit over his fingers like a glove. Hamaliel watched the sharp black points tear into her chest, through flesh and bone until her screams died to gagging noises as her lungs filled with blood and in silence the governor of Virgo drowned in her own blood.

Water stained with blood was suddenly soaked into the fallen angels calves, and they realize too late why the remaining members of the council have tucked themselves into the higher alcoves. Manuel was the only one left standing with them and he stood solidly on top of the water.

"This ends now." The fury in Cancer's black eyes froze over the water and trapped the devil's in place. Manuel roused the gold wings that stood in the place of his arms and shards of ice sprayed in the direction of the rebel angels. Azreal slammed the false edge of her sword into the ice at her feet as the Zodiac Angels above lunged for them both. She was free in time to be caught by Malahidael's four talon tipped arms and he slammed her into the wall with enough force to leave significant cracks in the stone. He towered over her and even hunched over he stood at least a foot taller. Tenkahane clattered to the ground at her feet and she kicked at his chest, glaring hate at the governor of Aries.

"You will not see victory today, Azreal." The talons on her arms dug into the stone wall and the second pair of buried into the flesh of her forearms.

"I do not need to see the future to know that you are defeated, Malahidael." She heard his ribs crack and focused her kicks on sending the broken bones into his lungs. He coughed blood onto her face and for a moment his grip weakened just enough to to allow her the chance to slip free. Azreal grabbed the first of four arms and twisted the limb with practiced efficiency, satisfied with the loud snap of his joints dislocating. Aries' howled in pain as Azreal knelt to grab her sword and she buried it deep in the tall angel's midsection. She sidestepped the giant and crossed the Observatory to fight off the flock of angels overpowering the Lord of Hell. Lightning fended off the creatures with agonized screams and she pulled Lucifer to his feet.

"Aries... Take Aries next." She pointed at the giant Malahidael, two of his remaining arms were closed around the exposed muscle of his stomach. The last arm was swirling hot blue fire that he whipped in their direction and its Lucifer's black smokey fire that that collided with the fire sign's magic.

"You said its inside his skull?" Gray eyes watched the cruel smile work over her features as she nodded. She had learned long ago that Lucifer's darkness could be as hot as Michael's fire, and with Malahidael's powers in retrograde it wasn't difficult to burn the flesh off the astrological leader of the Zodiac Angels. That blackness also kept the remaining Zodiac Angels back long enough for Azreal to slip Tenkahane through the charred remains of his neck, severing the necessary skull from his body.

†

Verchiel slammed into the circular stone opening of the Observatory and felt the warmth of blood soak into his feathered head, the sky above him was suddenly obscured by the flash of Azreal's gold armor and her heel connected with the top of his head. He landed in front of Barchiel who twisted miserably against the wall; Tenkahane was buried deep in their conjoined stomach, pinning them in place. Lucifer threw Manuel to the ground and the hideous sound of leg bones breaking made Azreal cringe inwardly. She grabbed the black straps holding Verchiel's withered and useless arms across his chest, and hauled him up high enough to smash his head against the pommel of her sword. It sunk deeper into the wall and Barchiel screamed, clinging to one another in tears. Leo's rust colored eye was little more than a bloody mess now and his muffled scream was not as loud as the shriek from the mouths of Scorpio and Pisces. As Azreal pulled the sword from the wall, the upwards motion of her sword split the twins from the waist up and they fell dead to the ground. The pommel came down on the Leo again until sound of his skull cracking offered her manic satisfaction. She discarded Verchiel's body and turned her attention to the corpse of the conjoined twins, their hands clasped together in a growing pool of blood. A single moment of regret seized up her throat, and she reminded herself that the choice had been hers from the very beginning. And once again, she'd chosen him.

"Azreal!" Lucifer yelled in time to alert the woman of the body that slammed into her, she was sent skidding across the floor and looked up in time to dodge the fire that Advachiel sent after her. Lucifer's sword is through the angel's arm before more flames can be summoned against the woman who's on her feet in time to catch the blade end of Libra's halberd ax. They exchanged short blows and the wooden handle of the long ax snapped against the ether in her blade. Tenkahane buried itself deeply in the withered old face of Heaven's supreme judge.

Silver eyes found her companion hunched over the dead body of Advachiel, tearing out the eyeball that had Enochian etched around the ruby red iris.

" Take Canbiel. Manuel is mine." Azreal found Cancer on the ground and already Lucifer was crossing the blood stained Observatory to confront the birdlike angel of Aquarius. With their brothers and sisters, dead the two remaining angels had lost their nerve to fight the fallen angels.

"Azreal." Manuel lay on his back, blood splattered on his naked chest, his legs twisted to painful angles.

"Tell me which wing it is Manuel." Azreal pressed, she grabbed his chin and stared into his black eyes. "If you tell me, you won't have to suffer having both of them ripped out. And I will give you death as my last kindness." She frowned at his laughter and watched Lucifer sever the beak from Canbiel's body.

"You have never been kind, child." He said as Lucifer appeared in his vision. Azreal's expression hardened and she grabbed the angel's wings, her heelless boot crushing his chest to keep him still. She tugged at the base of his wings until the shoulder joints dislocated with a loud painful pop. Cancer screamed her name as she sliced through his wings, and she stifled the manic pleasure she'd taken in it.

"Kill him. We need to start collecting the pieces before the Messiah arrives." And the Devil obeyed.

†

"Even if they defeat Ezekiel, killing the Zodiac Angels would be nearly impossible. They are far older and far stronger than either of them. And they aren't stupid enough to attempt to force it open with their astral powers, that would only-" The first thing Uriel's eyes spotted was the collapsed section of walkway and then moss green eyes found the figure of the Keeper in a pool of blood.

"Land immediately!" The Earth shouted and headed to the hatch. Setsuna was the first one out and he dashed across the broken walkway to the still form of the angel he'd met several days ago.

"OI! Setsuna don't fucking run off!" Katou yelled, slinging his katana over his back and chasing after the Messiah. Uriel and several soldier's in medic uniforms crouched beside the Cherub, one of the medics called for a stretcher and the other pulled on sterile latex gloves.

"Major concussion, and several lacerations in the abdomen. He needs to be seen by a healer immediately." The medic explained as he assisted his partner in securing Ezekiel's neck.

"Hey he's waking up!" Setsuna shouted as one aquamarine eye cracked open, the other side of his face was too bruised and swollen to allow the lid to move for more than an involuntary twitch.

"Ezekiel!" Uriel moved into view of the secured angel. "You're severely injured. Don't move."

"They're dead." Ezekiel said through a mouthful of blood. "They've killed them and taken them... You need to get to the Gate." Their eyes went wide and the Cherub was left to the medics as Uriel ordered for one of the smaller airships to take him to Raphael. The three men entered the Observatory, finding blood, broken glass, and the lingering incomparable aura's of both the Zodiac Angels and the fallen ones. But there were no bodies to be found amongst the wreckage.

"That fiery glow of his is all over this room." Katou muttered darkly, filling his senses with the density of Lucifer's aura. He could feel that woman's too, but she didn't matter in his book and he disregarded the potent cold sting of her power.

"If this is Lucifer's and Azreal's doing then the Zodiac Angels are in Rosiel's possession. We have to go now, we can't miss our chance to enter!" Uriel turned on a heel, his false voice echoing in the large room as he demanded for their departure.

†

"Lucifer. Retrieve my sisters body, she's going to come with us..." Rosiel's voice now had the light airiness of near childhood and an arthritic finger beckoned the Angel of Death closer. "Stay with me, Azreal." The Inorganic Angel passed her a bronze key and she handed it to Lucifer. He disappeared as Rosiel stood and the thin Inorganic madman took shaky steps towards her.

"How many ribs did you break, my pet?" A feverish hand rested gently on the corset beneath her feathered black cloak and she fought the inherent urge to make the removal of those fingers as painful as possible for him.

"Two. Maybe a third." Azreal flinched as his fingers found the fractured ribs, the woman hissed and her hands flew up to stop the probing digits of the Inorganic Angel.

"And you still managed to kill your brother and the Zodiac Angels. Imagine what you will do to the Messiah when these are healed." Time magic wasn't difficult for him, even in this hideous state; and it didn't take much to set the bones back into place and to heal the wounds she'd taken in the last battle. Azreal said nothing at first, enjoying the sensation of painless breathing for the first time in hours.

"You can thank me by killing the Messiah. I'm afraid Lucifer has been unable to kill the man who shares the face of his beloved. So I can only depend on you now, my pet." Rosiel's smile crinkled his nose as he watched Death's expression run blank.

_Beloved._ An awful clarity dawned on her and pale coral lips repeated the word in silence.

"Go now. Prepare the Grand Cross." Rosiel ordered, and she silently disappeared

†

Azreal was perched above the Gate to Etemenanki, silver eyes darted frantically between the barren stretch of black earth and the unconscious woman thrown over Lucifer's shoulder like a prize. She scowled at the approaching group, taking their time in approaching the enormous doorway that would take them to the Creator.

"This place..." Setsuna's light brown eyes swept over the barren landscape, he couldn't fight the overwhelming familiarity he felt at the chill seeping into his wool lined jacket. "What happened to this place...?"

"Does this place look familiar?" Azreal pulled his attention from the enormous circle of power she and Lucifer had built to house the pieces of her caregivers, the Enochian on their bodies glowed with the immense reservoir of planetary power that had been given to them at the dawn of time. The planets had aligned themselves and brought Atziluth into the material realm, and it had opened for them as it had many times in the past.

"You did all this?" Setsuna's focus fell to the mutilated bodies ceremoniously scattered across the ground again, then his eyes lifted to Lucifer and the body slung over his shoulder, and finally back again to the woman balancing precariously on the enormous stone mask hanging over the Gate.

"Do you remember, or not!?" Death screamed, and Lucifer's voice made her name an ice cold warning; she glared down at him, furious beyond words.

"I'm not asking if YOU remember!" Azreal spat. "I KNOW that you remember!" The crazed woman turned her attention back to the Messiah.

"Do you remember your escape from this Paradise, Alexiel?!" Just like that, memories that couldn't possibly be his own surfaced as if they were; and he remembered the dead earth around him as a field of tall grass and wildflowers in an unimaginable variety. He remembered a figure in clean white running its hands across the soft tips of the grass and the distance roll of thunder.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

I don't think I did half bad. I understand why Yuki-san didn't panel that into the story, it was insane to write it. I can't imagine drawing it.


	11. Chapter 11

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 11

†

"Hurry." Lucifer commanded of the Organic Angel; she hadn't grown much since his last visit more than a decade ago and her stride suffered beside a man as tall and limber as the Devil. Alexiel nodded and tightened the black cape he'd offered as clothing around her shoulders. The early afternoon sun was hanging solidly overhead, but the temperature of high Heaven was as low as it had always been.

"How much longer, Lucifel?" Alexiel quickened her step in an attempt to keep up with her savior, shivering as a breeze swept through the tall grass of Zebul's endless open plain. Soft floral scents wafted up and mingled in the air around them as they trampled through beds of small vibrant flowers in an array of colors and shapes that only flourished here.

"We'll be able to fly after we cross the field, then we'll only be a day-" The Rebel Angel's statement lost itself to the wind as pepper gray eyes locked onto a hooded white figure less than a mile off.

"Whatever happens, keep going." Lucifer for a moment thought of his twin, but Michael wouldn't have allowed them to get this far without succumbing to his own impatience. The fleeing angels slowed down as the figure came into proper view. The thin layers of a white knee-length skirt caught in a gust and it was obvious that the only obstacle between them and escape was this woman. Lucifer's chest tightened and the bizarre pitfall in his stomach sunk further as she turned, pulling off a white scarf that hid features he was already familiar with. Needle straight hair fell to her elbows, disheveled by the strength of the wind and against her immaculate white uniform the dark cerulean color was as radiant as he remembered. Minutes of silence soaked the space between them and Alexiel watched in fascination as the two older celestial beings sized each other up. Hazel eyes turned to measure the distance to the horizon, where eventually this field and layer of Heaven would end; compared to the small island of Eden, this place was inconceivably huge.

"Your hair's gotten longer." The informal tone Lucifer used surprised the young Organic Angel, and it showed in her wide eyes as she turned them back to the man beside her and then to the woman standing in their way.

"Yes. I suppose it has." Azrael replied softly. With her index finger, she tucked dark blue flyaways behind her ear and it allowed sunlight to catch the peculiar color of her eyes. For a brief moment those pale eyes turned their attention to the teenager, who was only faintly becoming aware that she was intruding on a reunion. Alexiel felt the slightest chill run down her back and knew that it had nothing to do with the cold; the woman in front of them might have been gently brushing her hands against the wispy tips of the grass in her reach, but every fiber of her aura radiated aggression.

"Who is that?" Alexiel whispered, her eyes fell to the patches of small red flowers tangled among curled white moonlilies that would have to wait until nightfall to bloom.

"My name is Azrael." The Seraph pulled her attention to the teenager and then back to the Lord of Hell. "I am here to return you to the Creator."

"I won't let you do that." Lucifer pulled Alexiel behind himself, and brandished the golden saber he'd left in Eden when Alexiel had nearly taken his eye. Azrael's head cocked to the side, how many times had he told her he'd misplaced it?

"Run." He squeezed Alexiel's shoulder, looking back to nod in the direction he wanted her to head. "Follow the directions I gave you to Hell. I'll find you."

"Lucifel-" Alexiel protested as he urged her away.

"Run!" Lucifer demanded and returned his attention to the angel in white, in silence Azreal watched the Organic Angel clear several hundred yards. Lucifer examined the white uniform that the Seraphs had switched to after the Fall, black had been their pride; a testament to the agony they'd endured to grow a second set of wings and to the years spent earning the most prestigious rank that angels could hold. But that color had been stained by his rebellion and white held whispers of holiness that no one really believed in anymore.

"I wasn't talking about her..." Azrael was pleased with the momentary alarm that crossed his face as she reached over her shoulder to pull Tenkahane from behind her back. They had never crossed swords before, not even to train. A long time ago they'd facetiously agreed to save the other the embarrassment of defeat, and it was a subject they never discussed again. But Lucifer knew that she no interest in ending up like the first man who'd challenged him, who'd been driven to suicide with shame. But there was a reason that he'd made her his lieutenant, she was his better on the battlefield; the top field agent in what had been his division and it was the reason he'd fired his first assistant in favor of her. He could still remember the smile that had accompanied her promotion, but that smile had no place in the field around them.

"Is this what you want, Azrael?" Lucifer searched her face for a moment of hesitation, he didn't want to fight her. They had never called themselves friends, but there were only so many ways to describe over a century of working together to achieve greatness.

"This isn't about what I want. I have my orders." Thin blue brows creased furiously and the scowl on her coral lips hardened into a thin line. He was certain that those silver eyes were meant to freeze his heart, but he felt it melt in the wake of such heartlessness.

"That isn't what I asked you." He could fall into that caustic expression, and allow it bury every ounce of animosity he knew he deserved; she sighed and warm breath left her mouth in cloudy steam. Impossible. He'd always been impossible, and part of her felt relieved to know that that hadn't changed.

"What do you want me to say? That I wish you hadn't done it? That you hadn't destroyed everything we worked so hard for...?" Beneath the bitterness in her words there was the unmistakable trace of anguish. "Wanting things is pointless."

"We aren't strangers. We don't have to do this." Azrael briefly squeezed her eyes shut, slowly shaking her head and she met his familiar smoke gray gaze. It was exactly as it always had been. But she didn't know the man behind that detached stare, he was a stranger that was just as cold and merciless as the angel she'd always known him to be.

"I won't go against Him. Not for you, Lucifer." In the distance there was the echo of thunder and he could see dark storm clouds gathering. He'd seen her tear through entire battalions of his army with a cell half the size of the one gathering momentum behind her; but he had all of Hell's darkness running rampant in his body. Even with a Seraph's vast well of power she was no match for him, but the flat razor sharp edge of Tenkahane reflected sunlight across his eyes; as if to remind him that he was powerless before one of the Creator's goddesses of war.

"I won't just let you have me." He just needed to buy Alexiel enough time to get out of this place, their Creator would want her back eventually. Lucifer tightened his grip on the golden saber until his knuckles turned white and pointed the blade at her. Azrael responded with a tight frown, the same one she'd always used when he'd crossed the unspoken lines between them and he couldn't help the smirk that tugged faintly at his lips.

"I could never forgive you for doing something like that."

†

"What did you do...!?" Azrael's scream was barely audible over the howling roar of the darkness igniting the field around them into flames. The breeze carried embers across the sky and it spread the choking stink of sulfuric hellfire. Ash fell in fat lazy drops and the ever nearing storm held no promise of rain to weigh down the oxidized earth that had stained the Seraph's gray boots black.

"Its fitting don't you think?" Silver eyes were focused on his wings, four enormous stalks of plumage that had been stained as black as the coiling smoke that threatened to swallow up Zebul's rolling plains. "God's rebellious son has tarnished the last symbol of his Father's love, do you think He'll forgive me now?" A callous laugh made it easier to ignore the horror painted on her face and he sent another wave of infernal smoke in her direction. It rolled off of her electrical barrier, sparking loudly and as it subsided again she followed him into the air; her white wings beamed in the last flashes of sunlight they had before the ash and storm blotted out the sky.

The thunderous crack of lightning nearly deafened them both as it tore various paths to the ground, ready to be harnessed by the one who'd summoned it. The lightning rod in her hands attracted its first burst of raw power, and it danced pleasantly across the surface of her skin; but she knew it wouldn't feel like that for him. Azrael aimed Tenkahane at him and the electrical discharge hit Lucifer square in the back, she watched every muscle in his body seize and he toppled out of the sky, unable to use his wings. She landed beside him as he stood; folding their wings out of sight as they began to circle each other, kicking up ash with each step. Azrael lunged first; arching her blade in his direction and she caught another fork of lightning as her sword struck his. The piercing sound of steel against steel was punctuated with an ear-splitting crack of lightning and the shock traveled up his arms, throwing his heart into a frenzy that throbbed in his head.

"Its painful. I know." Her tone was almost apologetic as he loosened the straps of his black leathers just enough to run his hand against his chest, feeling the dangerously irregular pounding of his heart.

"I would have thought... He would have sent Michael." Azrael knew what he was doing, stalling for enough time to avoid cardiac arrest. She gave it to him, God wanted him alive anyway.

"Michael hasn't been right since your expulsion, he isn't fit to lead his armies. I think seeing you again would destroy whatever is left of him." She didn't immediately realize that his chest had stopped heaving and the only other warning she received was a sword grazing her cheek and tearing into the soft flesh just above her ear. She screamed and stumbled backwards, doubled over with a hand against the laceration coating the left side her head in blood.

"I'm impressed." Azrael stood up and swept the mess of her blood matted hair back. "There usually isn't a lot of fight left in people after they've been struck by lightning twice." There was pain and honesty in her voice and Lucifer grinned in response. He tested her balance with a jab that she avoided clumsily; the motion made her head spin and she cursed that his aim had found her. He struck again and each attempt met her sword until the familiar sound of steel buried in soft flesh cut through the thunder around them. Azrael was laid flat beneath him as they fell, loosing her breath on impact. He hovered over her, blankly lost in wide silver eyes and she said nothing as his hand left dark smears of ash across one side of her face.

"Is _this_ what you wanted?" Lucifer asked quietly, gently untangling blood soaked hair from her face. A tortured breath left him as she shook her head.

"No." Azrael could feel his blood streaming down the arm that had buried Tenkahane deep in his side. "Never..." He leaned closer, hissing as she pulled the sword out of his abdomen; Lucifer pressed his cheek to hers, tickling her ear as he inhaled a shaky breath.

"I've missed you..." He felt the shudder pass through her and it ran its course through him as blood began to collect in his mouth, it dribbled across her cheek and he swallowed it as he slid his mouth over hers. Azrael tensed beneath him and her hand flew up to his chest with the intention of pushing him away, but chilled fingertips glided beneath the unlatched leather at his chest and he was unbearably warm. The taste of blood and ash mingled in their mouths and his heartbeat thrummed rapidly against her hand. Brilliant white light swallowed them up as the Etemenanki's Gate appeared before them. Silver eyes opened suddenly and she pushed him off of herself to sit up. Remembering her orders and she prayed that He hadn't heard the blasphemy of doubt cut into her heart.

"I hate... walking into our office alone everyday. I hate knowing what they think of me... of us." Azrael stared at the ground, distantly aware that he'd brought himself to his knees. "I hate...I hate you."

"I know." Lucifer held his hands over the wound in his side, her shoulders shook and he watched her fingers dig into the ground. "...I know..."

†

"You may leave now, Azrael." Their Creator's voice was hollow, but there was gentleness in his tone and Azrael stood; keeping her eyes averted to the polished granite steps before the Throne of God.

"Would you like me to go after the Organic Angel?" It felt completely wrong to be in the presence of God covered in ash and blood, but the Gate had brought them here as soon as they'd crossed over.

"That won't be necessary. She'll return to us, My child."

"Yes, Father." Azrael turned and kept her gaze high and straight ahead, but that wasn't enough to keep his hand from reaching out for hers. She stopped, shutting her pale eyes in an effort to control her racing heart. She told herself that it was because their battle had ended only minutes ago, that was why her chest ached when his warm hand closed over her wrist. She looked down at his kneeling figure, he was hiding the pain he was in as well as she was hiding hers. The blood that had been on his lips had been wiped sloppily away and the taste of it was still in her mouth. His gray eyes had lost their usual piercing indifference for softness that she'd never seen, and they seared themselves into her memory.

"Please." Lucifer mouthed, watching a hesitant frown wash over with beautiful misery that he wouldn't be able to remember in the coming eons. Her hand found its way to his cheek, and for a brief instant they forgot that their Maker was watching. He felt like a fire against her fingertips and they held soft eye contact for long minutes as they told themselves that this was their last meeting. The last time that dark gray eyes would meet silver and her head shook side to side just enough to rustle the dry side of her hair. His hand slid down her wrist to her hand, smearing the blood on his hand with the ash blackening hers. He thumbed her palm as she traced his jaw and chin, brushing against the edge of his lower lip. She shook her head again and released him as he squeezed the tips of her fingers before his hand fell weakly at his side. Her first steps were shaky and Lucifer waited for the tapping of her stained taupe boots to disappear before lifting his eyes to his Father's throne. Still He was shrouded in candlelight and soft white mesh, hiding His face from His children.

"She almost let you go." His tone was flat and even. "For a moment she considered it too. But she's such an obedient child." Lucifer felt a smug smile tug weakly at his lips.

"You made her that way." He hissed and pressed his hand harder against the large laceration in his side. Hollow, flat laughter reverberated in the large empty room and it throbbed painfully in his head.

"I'll have to reward her for her loyalty " God's eyes fell to the crystal sword beside His throne. "You on the other hand..."

†

Azrael entered the small chapel, hoping it was as deserted as it looked; what was left of Heaven's military would still be at the borderlands fending off the largest horde of rebels they'd seen in months, maybe even years. Never knowing that Lucifer had used it as a means of sneaking back into Paradise to kidnap one the youngest and last of God's twins. She all but threw herself into the solid oak pew, too exhausted to make it all the way to her apartment on Lakia and too unwilling to submit to the inane questions Ezekiel would have if he saw her in this state. She tipped her head back, shutting her eyes as blood loss spun her vision with nauseating intensity.

_**I've missed you.**_ His voice accompanied the sensation of pressure against her lips and her fingertips softly touched the swollen curve of a mouth that still tasted like his blood.

"Azrael?" Startled the woman sat up, composing herself back to absolute rigidity before turning to follow the voice calling her.

"Uriel." There was concern written blatantly on his face as the sour fetor of sulfur pierced the chapels incense. "What are you doing here? Is the battle over?" Azrael wiped her mouth, certain that the Earth Angel could somehow tell who's mouth had been pressed against hers.

"Yes and no, they've pulled back but Michael is insistent on following them. He's furious at you... for failing to be there." Uriel examined the dark stains on her clothing and the blood in her hair, no one had seen her at the battle; but she looked physically and mentally completely defeated.

"When isn't he furious with me? Or anyone for that matter..." Azrael laughed weakly and tipped her head back, soaking in the warmth of late afternoon crepuscular sunlight pouring in through the overhead windows. "Yes...I'm fine. I'm just..." She sighed and stood, clasping to the bench in front of her for support.

"I've done something awful today, Uriel." The admission was a surprise to both of them and Azrael stared at the blood on her hand, his blood. It had dried into a sticky mess in her palm and she tried to wipe it off on the sleeve of her shirt. Uriel waited in silence, green eyes caught a glimpse of white bone between the matted mess of her hair and a dark hand instinctively reached to inspect it. She shrunk away in a motion so fast that the loose ash on her clothing got tossed up into the air. She turned to leave, tripping over tired feet and she struggled to stand again.

"You need to see a healer. What happened to you?" Uriel pulled her up, hooking her arm over his shoulder.

"I'll never see him again..." She sounded half delusional and the realization of her actions rose up as bile in the back of her throat, spoiling the taste of him.

†

"_What is his name?"_ Azrael's eyes shot up to the sword mounted on the wall of her apartment. Nanatsusaya rarely spoke, but when it did it was to ask questions of the world around it. "_Can you hear me, Azrael? What is his name?"_

"Who?" Silver eyes nervously scanned around her sparsely decorated apartment, empty as expected.

"_You're always thinking about him. Even now."_ Its voice was gentle, kind, and almost loving; but she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity that followed every word it spoke.

"Be quiet." Azrael stood and retreated into the bathroom, locking the door in an effort to get away from the blade that God had given to her. She avoided eye contact with the mirror and splashed water on her face, spitting the phantom taste of blood into the sink.

_**Does he look anything like me?**_ She screamed. The voice had been inside her head and the dark silhouette in the corner of her eyes was unmistakably him. On instinct she picked up a heavy glass soap tray and flung it at the mirror, his figure multiplied into every broken fractal of glass. With a sob Azrael sunk to the ground to escape him, only to find him crawling towards her until her mind replayed the physical memory of his cheek against hers.

_**I've missed you.**_ He vanished and wide silver eyes frantically searched for him, she stumbled back into the living room; she knew that he was already gone.

"_Take me with you!"_ Nanatsusaya called as she reached the front door, and she stared at the sword; a vicious grin spread over her wild expression.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

The things that God has made them do to each other... OTZ

In a perfect world I would not cut out so much of their battle, a lot happens between the scene cuts. But it wasn't as important as what actually made it into the chapter so I am satisfied.


	12. Chapter 12

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 12

†

_Beloved._ The word washed over Azreal's awareness in gentle hurt whispers and discordant livid screams. It got caught in her throat and burned deep in her chest as it drowned out Lucifer's voice. He was addressing the Messiah, who had cut him off; demanding to know how they had managed to turn the rolling grasslands of Zebul into a barren black wasteland.

"That was tens-of-thousands of years ago..." Uriel had only ever had questions about the day he'd found her in that tiny church with her uniform dirty and stinking of sulfur; he would have never imagined that the blood on her hands had been Lucifer's. Michael's eyes went wide as they darted between his brother and the woman perched atop the Gate, connecting the dots between his brother's disappearance and her Fall. He screamed, outrage directed primarily at Azreal, but the fallen angel wasn't listening. Too lost in a delusion of soft gray eyes that were no longer looking at her; and it was only when she heard her own name coming out of the blood red mouth of the self-proclaimed Queen of Hell did she come back into focus. Silver eyes flicked down and she frowned as the Satan of Wrath's hysterics reached her ears.

"You!" Balbero pointed a long black fingernail at Death. "You should still be sleeping in Hell! Why is SHE with you Lucifer-sama!?" The Witch Queen's green eyes were on the verge of a full-scale jealous panic attack. Azreal tipped her head to one side, listening to the Alcorn ranting to her king.

"This is the woman who chased us into Hell! Who has betrayed you more than anyone! Why would you want her at your side when I am the only one you've ever opened your heart to!?" Silver eyes widened fractionally as Balbero's screams fully chased away the ones in her head.

"Are _you_ really going to speak to me about betrayal?" Even with crimson lipstick and heavy black lines around her eyes, it wasn't difficult to recognize the nurse that had raised the eldest of God's twins. "I'm not the one who abandoned _him_." Azreal's eyes shifted to Michael, and her steady gaze brought hesitation into his battle ready stance.

"Haven't you realized it yet, Michael?" Lucifer shook his head, hardly surprised and maybe a bit disappointed that he still had to spell everything out for his younger brother. The Fire Angel froze, inspecting the woman's straight cream blonde hair that had been curled on one side of her face into tight spirals. Teal eyes fell lower, to the generous opening in her corset that exposed the naked swell of her breasts and he noticed the faintest skin discoloration. A scar that had been cauterized the moment it had been given, the kind of scar that only his Fire Sword could manage.

"She was that woman- that nanny that fostered us as children and who served us in adulthood. What was her name again?" Fire felt his heartbeat rise into his throat and his vision shook as her name and the memory of that final battle boiled up inside of him. Balbero's arrogant expression fractured and nervousness knitted her pale brows together as she searched the face of the man she loved; looking for his reason behind revealing her identity to his brother.

"I swore loyalty and undying love upon the body you gave me. Lucifer-sama...?" Her words sounded more pathetic than she'd intended and her body involuntarily responded to the smirk that played across his lips.

"Then prove it. Let me see what the body I gave you is capable of." A small hopeful smile blended into her nervous face as he spoke. "Kill Michael, and the rest of them if you think you can." Black demonic ichor flooded her eyes and she faced the Great Powers with a renewed sense of purpose. A heavy fog consumed the group, it smelled like sulfur and sweet poisonous flowers. Azreal watched the angels wander aimlessly in the miasma, calling out the names of their lovers as the mighty Queen of Darkness declared herself victorious as one by one they cut each other down.

"Do you see Lucifer-sama!? This is the power you have given your Satan of Wrath! I am not just your queen! I am the most skilled soldier in Hell!" Balbero had been ignorant of the fact that her magic hadn't worked on everyone in the Messiah's circle, and with a small surprised gasp she felt pain explode in her torso. Azreal recognized the katana that had been shot cleanly through the woman's chest, intersecting with the scar on her cleavage and the thick haze around them dissipated as her powers vanished.

"You said that 'mesmerizing' fog only works on things that are alive right?" Katou pulled back the cloth covering his mouth, a calculated smile on his face as the poisonous fog lifted. "Too bad for you though, I'm just a corpse. So that shit didn't do anything to me. But... It did give me enough cover to stick that sword into those oversized tits of yours." Balbero's hands closed around the hilt of the sword and she tried with all of her inhuman strength to pull it out; but it didn't budge.

"Oh and by the way. That sword... It belongs to your lover-boy over there." The blonde teen nodded to Lucifer, who had turned his attention to the woman above all of them.

"Outdone by a child. Absolutely pathetic." Azreal shook her head and Balbero screamed curses against all of them, but they meant little without her powers.

"Get off your high horse, bitch. I got something special planned for you too." Katou sneered, dark eyes narrowing at Azreal who grinned at how brave he'd grown. The blonde removed the canvas bag on his back and set it carefully on the ground, ensuring that the contents inside remained undisturbed.

"My memories are fading. I can't remember things that used to seem so easy. My sisters name for instance. Totally gone. Things that I'm afraid of. The names of people I'm fighting beside. But there is one thing I do remember." Ink black eyes turned to Lucifer as his hands unzipped the backpack. "I want to kill you. That's the only thing I've been holding on to, and I can't even remember why anymore. Its probably cause you look like such a dick." He peeled open the canvas and placed the small cylindrical storage device on the ground.

"I know what you must be thinking. 'What an idiot' am I right? Heh, well me too pal. Which I guess makes this the perfect time to use this bad boy." With a quiet hiss the capsule decompressed and slid open, nestled in a bed of soft cloth a small white stone egg hummed with quiet energy. Wrapped around the egg was a red stone serpent, its body carved with intricate angelic sigils.

"What is that thing?" Setsuna took a step back, as the eggs power touched him; turning his spine to ice.

"A Catastrophe." Lucifer's scowl deepened as Uriel stepped forward.

"Yes. A disaster to all the creatures on land." The Earth Angel wasn't surprised that Lucifer had recognized it, it had after all been created as a weapon against his armies. "The Egg of Wormwood."

†

Wormwood had been designed as a deterrent. One of seven extreme measures Heaven had taken to ensure that Hell would never consume all of Creation. But the Creator's children had prayed and begged that He never use it, and in a rare kindness their Maker had listened. It had supposedly been hidden away in Atziluth, but the Earth Angel had taken it with him to Hades; wanting to get it out of Sevotharte's reach.

"You've given that mortal the Egg, Uriel?!" Azreal screamed, recoiling as Katou carefully took the small stone into his hands. "Wormwood will kill all of us and leave half of Creation in absolute ruins! And you've handed that power to a boy who's lost every part of himself?!"

"What?" Setsuna felt his stomach clench and his body moved towards Uriel of its own accord. "Why the hell would you give that thing to Katou?!" The Messiah grabbed Uriel by his black coat, pulling the much taller angel down to eye level.

"He's lost all of his memories!" Setsuna shouted, shaking sense into the Earth Angel.

"I know that-" Uriel balled his fists tightly at his side, green eyes shut in tense shame. Katou had wanted it, wanted a surefire way of killing the one he still called Sakuya Kira, refusing to believe that Uriel couldn't provide him something.

"He's loosing himself! Even as we speak!" Setsuna shook the angel harder, demanding an explanation.

"Shut the hell up!" Katou snarled, tired of listening to their bickering. "Don't pretend that taking me the rest of the way isn't going to be a burden! Don't bullshit me...Whatever the fuck your name is!" The Egg's light fluctuated as Katou spread his hands, allowing the egg to hover between his palms.

"Lu-cifer...-sama!" The Satan crawled over the bodies of the Zodiac Angels, reaching for her king. "Save...me..."

"Its time to go Azreal." Lucifer ignored the Satan's pained bleating, turning his eyes to Azreal. The fallen angel scoffed at the hand he offered and left her perch, landing beside the open Gate. She turned to glare at him for a moment, and he watched her disappear into the light pouring out of the highest Heaven. Katou's familiar laughter pulled his attention back to the oncoming astrological cataclysm.

"What a bitch, but it must be love cause you're such an asshole, Luci-chan!" The Egg shattered into dust, and for a long moment there was a stillness across all of Creation. Every pair of eyes turned up as fiery gold and red light changed the color of the sky. The first meteor roared as it tore through miles of atmosphere, catching fire just as hundreds more punched holes in the cloud cover. The meteorites crashed into the ground below, turning the battle scarred Zebul into rubble. Shrieks of panic rose up from the nameless members of Setsuna's group as they fell victim to Wormwood's curse, too weak to protect themselves against the destruction around them.

"Even Hell is vulnerable to this. How sad." Lucifer muttered to himself as he studied the blazing sky above them.

"If this continues everyone will perish!" Uriel looked up, towards a Creator he hadn't personally addressed in centuries. "Are we all going to suffer indifferently?! Even though we were the ones who've served You!?"

"So Uriel." Steel gray eyes met the Earth Angel's, the same smirk he'd always worn on his lips. "This is what you get for believing in God. So tell me. Where is your faith now?"

†

It was easy to get lost in Atziluth, the hot summer days could last for decades; and the forest of tall thin trees that surrounded the Tower of Etemenanki was blanketed in a cool dense haze that softened the warm temperature ever so slightly. Azreal eyed the path that she knew would take her Etemenanki, an overgrown trail that she had walked three times in her life. The first time had been as a child, before she and her twin had names to call each other by; God had given them Ezekiel and Azrael. Logic and Wisdom. Thrusting unimaginable expectations on children who's gender hadn't even developed yet. The second time had been as an adult, alone and covered in ash and Lucifer's blood; but the trip had been in reverse and each step had brought his voice to her ear. He told her he missed her over and over, and she'd said it back with each rattled breath. The last time had been the most difficult, the weight that he'd left on her heart had already become unbearable and the sword God had given her had only made the Devil's absence more apparent. Silver eyes narrowed as she navigated the woodlands, it had grown silent and devoid of life and it made the sound of Lucifer's wings intolerably loud. Azreal felt her lithe body strain to make itself tighter, more anxious and unapproachable as he landed beside her. He said nothing, but his frown was enough to tell her that he was displeased. She returned the expression tenfold as the sight of the gentle way he carried Alexiel in his arms brought her madness to a fever pitch, and every thought sane or not was disturbed by the spite wound up tightly around her chest. Azreal looked away, moving up the overgrown path in silence towards the vine covered stone underpass that she recognized as the way to Eden. Lucifer followed, maneuvering the Organic Angel back on his shoulder, a hand against the backs of her thighs to keep her inert body in place. He caught up to Azreal as they entered the old passage, and his free hand reached for her shoulder. He found the soft black material of her feathered coat for a brief moment before she struck his hand away; silver eyes bore into him as the shattered tips of his finger-bones splintered back together. It had been a warning, one that required no vocalization; a promise of violence the he refused to allow her.

"Stop." Lucifer ordered, roughly closing his hand around her upper arm.

"Don't touch me with that woman in your arms!" Azreal hissed, turning and slamming her hands into his chest. He staggered backwards several steps, and the furious blaze in his gray eyes died the moment her words echoed through the tunnel. She exhaled through her nose before turning away again, gold heelless boots twisting up the grass beneath her feet.

"Azreal." One hand spun her to face him, and the other closed around the fist inches from his face with a loud whack that stung both their hands. She struggled as he held onto her wrists, demanding her release with screams that shook the fragile stones around them. He held on, until gold armored knees sunk into the soft earth beneath her. She was quick to cover her face, and beneath the curtain of mussed dark blue hair she was shaking. Tight violent convulsions that he interpreted as quiet sobbing. Lucifer knelt, working his fingers through her hair in an effort to flatten the strands back down. She inhaled, and the sound was broken enough to make him think she was outright crying, but as he pulled her forward into his chest her hand flew across his face. Stunning him long enough to give her the chance to knock him onto his back. She crawled over him, digging the hexagonal gold plates of her armored legs into his side as she straddled him.

"Was it difficult?" Somewhere in the tangled mass of her thoughts she saw Alexiel's body, her limbs strewn, her spine twisted enough to prove that he'd all but dropped her.

"What...?" Lucifer stared at her, unrecognizable silver eyes smothered by madness that was twice as volatile as anything he'd seen so far.

"Was it difficult to say my name instead of hers?" The words came out dangerously quiet, and the thin enraged line of her coral lips peeled open into a snarl.

"A-" Her hands found his throat, squeezing just enough to silence whatever name was on the tip of his tongue.

"Was is her voice that you heard coming out of my mouth?" Her fingers dug into the skin around his neck, cutting his airway off completely and she hadn't even realized it yet. "Did you pretend that it was her skin while you had your hands all over my body?! Did you even think of me once!?" She felt his throat collapse, and the sound of it was enough to make her obey the voice that begged her to let him go. Lucifer's windpipe repaired itself as her hands went slack, and he gasped as much needed air burned into his lungs. He reached up for her face and she fell into the warmth of it as silver eyes lifted to Alexiel's body.

"...Did..." Azreal's voice cracked as Lucifer's fingers threaded into her hairline. He found the faintest ridge of flesh just above her left ear, the eon old scar that had he'd given her the last time they'd met.

"Did she make your heart beat faster than I could?" She felt his hand twitch against the curve of her skull.

"Don't say-"

"You told me that this was about killing God." Azreal interrupted, suddenly furious again. She pushed Lucifer's hand away, trapping his wrist between her fingers and the ground.

"You think I don't want to see Him dead?" Lucifer's expression hardened, and they refused to even blink as they glared at each other.

"I don't think you remember why! You are so wrapped up in _her_ that you've forgotten what you're really angry about! Don't you remember how many years we spent earning our chairs, how painful these wings were? Everything we earned was taken away from us, and you've chosen to be angry over some woman. ITS PATHETIC! I'm going to kill them, Lucifer! Setsuna Mudou and then Alexiel will die on my sword in Eden and you will have nothing!" She left him there, and he waited until her figure was completely obscured in the haze before sitting up. His fingers prodded gently at the bruised skin around his neck, wincing at the soreness that not even his artificial body could erase completely. Lucifer stood, unreadable gray eyes traced the figure of the woman he'd driven to madness and a small anxious thought voiced the possibility that he'd gone too far. His eyes dropped to the lifeless angel at his feet, and he tried to remember the last time he'd been himself and only himself. Without Nanatsusaya crying out for Alexiel's affections and without Sakuya Kira clouding his judgment with memories he had no right to have. He'd tasted Eden's fruit in Alexiel's mouth, it had been tart and that fragrant flavor had clung to him for days. But the aftertaste of ash and blood had followed him beyond the last moments he'd had with Azreal, it had given Nanatsusaya its endless want for war and love.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

This still sort of feels like a filler to me, and I must apologize. But Eden is coming and I don't want to split that monster up. OTZ


	13. Chapter 13

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 13

†

"Setsuna Mudou is to be killed now." Rosiel was smaller now, hinging somewhere between childhood and pubescence and oversized gold eyes looked up at his fallen angels. They wore equally merciless expressions and stood miles apart in comparison to the intimate distance they'd kept recently. The Inorganic Angel's nose wrinkled at the thought it his pets fighting, but he felt confident that even squabbling they'd be too wrapped up in each other to keep him from Alexiel.

"For my sake and for yours." Rosiel turned on his bare feet, slinking away as Azreal stepped off the temple roof; jacket flared and gold armor reflecting the hot summer sun as she raised Tenkahane over her head. The sword crackled with bursts of astral power as she aimed it at the Messiah's head and Setsuna stumbled back as lightning tore into the delicate ground beneath them. Setsuna felt a hand on his throat, and before he could fully grasp what was happening Lucifer has seized and thrown the teenager across the open garden. He choked out a pained gasp as the air was knocked violently out of his lung when he collided with one of the spherical stone sculptures dotting Eden's landscape. Setsuna shook himself, half screaming as he ducked just in time to avoid Azreal's sword as it cut cleanly through the sun bleached stone orb. He rolled up his sleeve, becoming distinctly aware of the fact that up until now neither of the fallen angels had really wanted him dead; but now they were serious and Nanatsusaya would not respond to his call.

"Shit shit shit!" He scrambled to think of a way to win, or at the very least keep the angels from killing him as he rolled to the side, again avoiding the greatsword in Azreal's possession. This time it obliterated the sculpture and the dust kept him from seeing her ice cold fingers close around his face. She slammed him back into the ground, and Setsuna fought for consciousness as she released him. The teenager pulled himself to his haunches as an explosion of sulfuric black smoke sent him sliding into the stone walls that had kept Alexiel imprisoned. Setsuna slipped down to his knees as his vision swam; desperation made him call out his wings, anything to get out of Lucifer and Azreal's reach. But they refused him, exactly as Nanatsusaya had and Rosiel's pleased giggles reached him between the droning pulse of his heartbeat in his ears.

"Looks like you're starting to get it..." Rosiel tapped his chin with a bony finger, referring to Setsuna's inability to use his powers. "Why do you think I chose this place as your graveyard? Did you forget that this is Eden? The power of this place shuts off the Organic Angel's powers, she's helpless here." Setsuna spat out the accumulated blood in his mouth glaring at the angel lord as he unraveled the Blood Crystal from his wrist. Setsuna's eyes went wide, he didn't need Rosiel's reintroduction to know that was the gem that housed the soul sealed inside Nanatsusaya and brown eyes turned to Lucifer.

"You've never seen this have you, Azreal?" Sunlight danced across the face of the dark gem as Rosiel held it out a teasing smile on his dry cracked lips. "Our Creator never wanted you to have control of Nanatsusaya. Do you think He let you go insane on purpose?" Azreal's entire body tensed in absolute rage, wanting nothing more than to take and smash that dark red stone against his skull. Lucifer's hand clamped around her forearm, crushing the taunt muscles in a silent warning that got her attention long enough to turn her eyes to him. Azreal didn't realize how short her breathing had become until she looked at him, and he held her gaze until the tension in her limbs left her.

"End this." Her whisper was scathing. Lucifer hadn't explained himself outside of promising her that regardless of what the Inorganic madman thought, control was not something he had over him. "We don't need him anymore. We've never needed him, Lucifer... Either of them." She tore her eyes away from his when he shook his head.

"The Tower won't appear for anyone but them." Lucifer muttered, loosening his fingers ever so slightly. "After that..." It was an open promise and he wasn't sure why he'd made it, but he watched her coral lips twist into a scowl as Rosiel reissued his order to end Setsuna's life.

"Are...?" Setsuna's jaw locked in a flare of panic and anger as the earth beneath the fallen angel's feet rose up in layers of clay and dirt all the way to the bedrock. "Are you sure about this!? Being degraded into the slaves of this bastard!" Brown eyes followed the rising figures, he knew that he just had to reach one of them; wound someones pride deep enough and hope that they'd realize what Rosiel had done to them.

"You're alright with this Lucifer? After chasing Alexiel for so long?! No matter how many times you had to track her down across Assiah, you always did it! You can't tell me you did it because you hated her! That's bullshit! You've always been in love with Alexiel haven't you!?" Lucifer said nothing, but squeezed Azreal's arm tightly as she started struggling against him.

"And you!" Setsuna pointed to Azreal, who's countenance twisted up into a wild grin.

"Say it Messiah! This is your last chance, choose your last words very carefully!" She leaned over the edge of the still rising chunk of earth, straining against the disjointed thoughts of complete and utter madness. They screamed for blood, and she would let them have it; but knew that loosing herself to it, with thoughts of him and that woman swirling around like a storm in her head would irrevocably destroy her.

†

Azreal stepped carefully around the fallen stone structures of Eden, tuning out Lucifer as he passed off his affections for Alexiel with much more conviction than he'd shown her. But still, the word 'love' refused to come out of his mouth. Setsuna groaned as he shifted weakly against the large rocks pinning him down, and he shrunk as she pulled the largest chunk of stone off of him with little effort. He rolled out of the pile, tumbling down the slope and landing flat on his stomach; he felt the toes of her boots dig into his side as she flipped him over.

"There's something you don't seem to understand about...us." Lucifer gestured to himself, Azreal, and then somewhere behind him in reference to Alexiel. "We're killers. We revel in meaningless bloodshed and claim the lives of everything and anything in our way. It's never mattered if the corpses are angels or demons, all we've ever cared about is the fact that we put them there." Azreal crouched, her expression bitter as she and Setsuna made eye contact.

"And you?" His throat burned, filled with blood and grit and he wiped at his mouth with his sleeve. "Are you okay with getting strung along like this? You've been beside him longer than anyone, and look at what he's done to you." She stared at him, eyes narrowing and shook her head; a minuscule gesture that gave him hope of walking out of this confrontation alive. He wished it had been Kira that had finally stopped to listen to him; but something was better than nothing.

"You love him don't you?" His question was met with vicious laughter that quickly and suddenly devolved into insane tittering; Setsuna swallowed hard, that hadn't been the reaction he wanted and one look into her eyes told him what a mistake his choice of words had been.

"Love him?!" Azreal's scream lost its measure to a whisper and she leaned closer. "Can you imagine... That ice cold heart..." The Messiah saw the face she made, pained and resentful as she took his wrist into her vice of a grip. He screamed as she effortlessly broke the joint and ripped off the bracelet, standing and turning the piece of jewelry over in one hand; Nanatsusaya had never taken a form so convenient, but then again she'd never needed it to. She tossed it over her shoulder, and it landed with a glassy clink as it rolled out of reach. Setsuna gauged the distance, he could get it if he could just distract her for a moment. His still working hand squeezed the hilt of Katou's broken katana and he stared down at it, inspired and terrified that if he wasn't fast enough she'd kill him long before he even made his move. He launched himself forward, pushing past the pain in his broken wrist and centered the sword on her stomach; it wasn't going to kill her, but it would at least get her out of the way. Azreal moved in the same instant he did, realizing that she'd grossly miscalculated the Messiah's reach as the sword plunged into her stomach. Setsuna didn't look back as she screamed, using the remainder of his momentum to lunge towards to the bracelet; but he recognized the black boot that intercepted his course and scolded himself for forgetting about the other ancient fallen angel trying to kill him. He rose to his knees, gulping down air as light brown eyes met Lucifer's. There was nothing readable in those eyes; they lacked any emotion, even contempt for his existence and Setsuna felt himself shrink under that emptiness.

"I'm going to die..." Setsuna said as tired breath left him, he watched the first inkling of pitch black smoke form in Lucifer's outstretched hand. Azreal had collapsed to her knees, inspecting the sword in her stomach. She tested the hilt, not certain if it would cling to her the same way it had to Balbero; but it moved, and she held back a shriek of agony as it slid just a bit.

"_Sakuya..._" The name, more so than the quite young voice that muttered it caught her attention. "_Sakuya... Can you hear me...?_" A little boy, or rather the ghost of a little boy stood between Setsuna and Lucifer; behind wire-framed glasses he wore an expression that was too serious for a child wearing shorts and a green t-shirt. Little Sakuya Kira set his gaze on Lucifer, who'd gone quiet and tense, whispering the name of the last human life he'd lived as Nanatsusaya.

†

Humanity was a difficult concept for Azreal to grasp, but she knew enough about that precious and fleeting thing to know that it was never meant to apply to the primordial children of God; much less to someone as cold and indomitable as the Morningstar. She stood and plunged Tenkahane into the ground, using it to support her weight as she watched Lucifer's expression falter as Setsuna Mudou struck nerves that had never come under fire.

"You treasured your life back then didn't you? You loved living as Kira Sakuya, right?!" This time Setsuna noticed the faint twitch of emotion on Lucifer's face; Setsuna cracked half a smile, he'd done it. He'd reached the humanity that Kira's ghost had exposed.

"What foolishness..." Rosiel's voice floated over them and Azreal watched in stunned silence as Lucifer snuffed out every trace emotional response. "What lies. Don't listen to them my little Lord of Hell. You are the wickedness of this world, nothing else." The Inorganic Angel stamped his small foot on the gritty stone that he'd spent the entire encounter balancing on. Setsuna took a step forward, turning his full attention back to the Lucifer.

"I refuse to believe that!" He'd cut through miles of ice once, just that was enough to make him try again. "I know... I'm sure you think the time you spent with us wasn't real! But I promise you it was Lucifer! And you know deep down that those memories are alive and dear to you!" Again, Setsuna had done it again and it sparked a panic in Rosiel.

"Azreal! Kill him!" But she ignored him, staring wide eyed at the remote look of uncertainty on Lucifer's face; it was a small change that on anyone else would have gone unnoticed; but Azreal had never seen such a raw look on him. It made her blood boil, but inspired enough sympathy for the Messiah to refuse Rosiel's tantrum.

"GO ON! Look me in the eye and tell me how unhappy you were back then Sempai!" Setsuna took up more the space between them, throwing his arms out as he approached; placing all of his faith in the ounce of uncertainty in those storm gray eyes.

"LUCIFER!" Rosiel screeched and the only sound after that was black steel splitting open Setsuna's chest cavity. The teenager made no noise as he slumped over, and a full minute passed before the Inorganic Angel's reluctant laughter grew out of control with glee. Small arthritic hands squeezed at his cheeks while wide gold eyes ogled the dead Messiah.

"Its finally done!" Rosiel was over Setsuna's body in an instant, kicking the corpse onto its back. "The Messiah, humanity's last hope is dead! With your death Sakuya Kira will die within Lucifer...!" Rosiel grabbed the wool of Setsuna's coat and shook the body several times before kneeling on top of it.

"Oh how long have I been waiting for this moment...?!" Rosiel whispered urgently, pressing his lips to Setsuna's cheek. "I am eternally grateful to you Lucifer. Setsuna's death will mean my sister's revival and I can finally become one with her." Violently he threw the body back to the ground, rising and covering his malformed body with the stretch of white cloth he'd wrapped himself up in.

"Mangle and burn the boy's body, both of you. Turn it to ash and spread it across Atziluth so that he can never recover." Rosiel's tone was suddenly ice and he left his pets to their task, trusting that his commands would be obeyed. Azreal shut her eyes as Sakuya Kira's ghost demanded the truth out of the one who'd shared his soul; she slide the sword out, grimacing as it dislodged itself from her abdomen. She tossed the broken blade to the side, closing her hand over the wound and sealing it with enough astral power to stop the bleeding. The ear-splitting clang of metal and a sudden wave of impossible power made Azreal freeze.

"Alexiel..." She released an uneven breath as she inspected Setsuna's body, rather than awakening within her own body she'd chosen to break the barrier of energy she'd been collecting throughout her reincarnations.

"Its been a long time, Lucifer." Alexiel's voice overpowered Setsuna's and all three fallen angels exchanged uneasy glances.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

Eden kinda got away from me, and I really think that splitting it up was the best decision.


	14. Chapter 14

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 14

†

Azreal shuffled forward, hissing as each uneven step ignited a fresh wave of pain in her abdomen; she'd been conditioned to dismiss the pain, but even with all the adrenaline coursing through her it was a slow process for an injury as deep as hers. She exhaled roughly, tired of listening to the Organic Angel regard her Messiah so highly; but that wasn't half as exhausting as the carefully constructed apathy on Lucifer's face. That expression spurred the pain in her stomach as it curled in resentfulness.

"Stop talking." She put herself between them, managing to inhale completely as the pain settled into the back of her mind. Pale eyes flicked over to Setsuna; in the wake of his rebirth as Alexiel his eyes had turned into the same green flecked hazel of her original body. Azreal's head snapped to Lucifer and he froze mid-step as she glared at him.

"What did I tell you?" That soft even tone betrayed how furious she was, even as the words came out between clenched teeth. "You said it yourself, the Tower needs both of them to open it. So I'll do what you can't... What you refuse to do, because all she has to do is breath and you'll start eating out of the palm of her hand!" The venom in her expression said everything it needed to.

"We aren't enemies, Azreal." Alexiel's voice broke their eye contact and the older fallen angel nodded thoughtfully as pale eyes returned to the resurrected Messiah. The women tightened their grips on their respective weapons, watching one another with predatory caution.

"Would it make you feel better if we were?" A pitiless grin followed the statement and Alexiel felt herself again chilled to the bone in the presence of such an aggressive woman. "Should I... declare war on you? Would that be enough to absolve you and your conscience?" Azreal rolled her eyes as Alexiel narrowed Setsuna's eyes and they waited for the other to make their move. It was Alexiel who bolted into action first, running and vaulting the stone railing into the lower garden that hadn't been touched by the fighting thus far. The Organic Angel set off into a dead sprint as soon as Setsuna's feet touched the ground below, but she knew that even with the barrier of her power partially broken a human body couldn't outrun the angel on her heels. The hand on the collar of Setsuna's jacket was her only warning and Alexiel braced for impact as Azreal pulled hard, grappling and slamming the Organic Angel into her back.

"We weren't done." Alexiel sat up, catching a glimpse of the blood streaming down the hexagonal gold plates of one leg before a heelless boot crashed down on her chest; she felt Setsuna's lungs compress as the stone under her back cracked. Azreal circled around the Messiah's body, her limp was gone but the manic grin on her face was dulled down with discomfort. She allowed Alexiel to stand as they maintained rigid eye contact as they prepared to clash again.

Azreal struck first, flinging her sword over her head and she wasn't surprised when Alexiel caught it. Crystal and metal screeched to the crossguards as they fought to overpower each other, and when the weight transferred in Azreal's favor she shoved Setsuna's corpse back at the same moment that his knee slammed into her stomach. Alexiel didn't wait for a scream to confirm that the blow had connected, she took off; sinking into the hedge maze that encompassed the lower gardens. Azreal collapsed to one knee, one hand darting to her stomach. Bare fingertips came back dark with blood and she groaned as warm hands lifted her to her feet. Lucifer looked her over as she kept her glare stubbornly forward.

"Stay out of this." Azreal whispered when he tried to ask about the pain. "How long is it going to take you realize that she's been feeding you shit from the very beginning?" He stared at her profile, grey eyes wide in shock at the harshness in her words. Her bloodied hand left a smear on his leathers as she shoved him back, slipping out of his arms and following the Organic Angel into the labyrinth of inner Eden. He watched her go, dark steel eyes calcifying as the image of her long limbs twisted in agony on the floor of his castle marked the moment he'd lost control of the events unfolding around him.

†

Alexiel shielded Setsuna's face as she leapt through the stained glass window; knowing that the sound was bound to attract one or both of the ex-angels. She was on her feet quickly, jogging deeper into the underground.

"Making me hunt you down is pathetic." Azreal's voice echoed in the high ceilings of the hallways and Alexiel came to halt, adjusting her pace to keep her steps as silent as possible; not doubting that the former Seraph could track her with just that sound.

"For such a notorious warrior, you certainly disappoint." It was obvious bait, even with the insane little chuckle that followed.

"Why are you so intent on this?" In spite of that Alexiel took it, and the moment her words came out the wall directly beside her fragmented into chunks as the gold-clad woman forced her way through. Nanatsusaya was up in a moment, blocking the first swing of the enormous greatsword that Azreal wielded with effortless precision. The second and third strikes made Setsuna's broken wrist scream in misery and Alexiel was forced to switch hands while the pain ran its course through her nervous system. Switching to her off-hand forced the Organic Angel into a defensive stance and she moved backwards as the Seraph took long steps forward between each attack.

"Is it because you love him and he-" Alexiel's back touched the wall and she ducked Setsuna's body to one side as Tenkahane slide into the stone wall with ease.

"Oh don't degrade us both by making this about him! There are more important things at stake than that man!" Azreal screamed. She attempted to pull her sword out of the wall, but was forced to lurch away to avoid her opponent's first offensive attack. Silver eyes went wide as Alexiel shoved Tenkahane back into the wall and Setsuna's feet began to carry the woman's attacks closer. Azreal could do little but skirt away from the crystal sword, memorizing the motions Alexiel went through as they traveled down a new corridor. Diagonal uppercut, downward slash, and then a jab; as predictable as it was effective at keeping distance between them.

"Not for you, Azreal." Alexiel grimaced as she lunged forward expecting her opponent to jump back, but Azreal sidestepped the attack; waiting until Setsuna's arm locked before slipping a hand around the crystal blade. She pulled, relying on the leather of her gloves for grip and the fact that Alexiel would have never let her sword go.

"Making your enemy angry? What a cheap tactic." Azreal twisted Nanatsusaya off its course, using the woman's momentum to sling her into the nearest wall. She took off down the tunnel, silver eyes fixed on the ether sword buried deep into the far wall. Up until now she hadn't given a thought to the fact that her hair had grown out to her ankles; the consequence of the celestial energy she'd burned through while dispatching the Zodiac Angels and fighting her way through Eden. Alexiel's fingers tangled into the considerable length of dark blue hair and she yanked her hand back, twisting it around Setsuna's arm as the woman fell back with a short scream. Azreal scrambled to her knees as Alexiel jerked the woman's head back, straightening out her spine with Setsuna's dark boot. Azreal's head was forced back and she met the woman's eyes, faintly aware of Nanatsusaya's cold crystal edge suddenly pressed against her neck.

"This is the path you've chosen. Are you satisfied?" The kneeling woman wanted to laugh at the sudden coldness in the woman's voice, it seemed the high and mighty Organic Angel only enjoyed battle when the tables turned in her favor.

"With a choice that was never mine?" Azreal's expression hardened as the sword left her neck and the hand in her hair tightened its grip. "At least I won't allow myself to flounder through it like some pathetic woman." Silver eyes watched Alexiel raise the sword over her head, as the patter of what she assumed was her heartbeat grew louder.

†

Alexiel reeled back, thrown onto her back as the flat side of Tenkahane slammed into her face; for a brief moment she stared at the ceiling as the tang of blood filled her mouth. She got to her feet quickly as Lucifer pulled the heavy longsword to his side. Azreal had collapsed to all fours when the Organic Angel had released the woman's hair; her eyes watched his boots out of the corner of her vision, and her breathing accelerated with panic. The Organic Angel licked at the split on Setsuna's swollen lower lip, and the warmth on her upper lip said that her nose had started bleeding. He didn't wield the blade with half as much care as its owner, but the suddenness of his disruption had given him an advantage that none of them had been expecting. Alexiel wiped off the nosebleed with her sleeve, hazel eyes steady on his.

"It's still- ah." Alexiel's tongue touched at her lip again, it was torn through to the muscle and each word stretched the wound painfully. "It's still my desire to see you awaken your heart, and escape from your destiny." She'd used those words against him the first time he'd come to Eden, they had saved her from him and his rage-fueled intentions. His misguided infatuation had given her an opportunity to escape Eden and she'd taken it; knowing that her gilded cage in Heaven would become a gilded cage in Hell. But Lucifer made for a far less intimidating enemy than God and His entire host of angels. So she'd gone with him, but luck had been on her side that day and he'd sent her away; pretending his way into the role of her hero. Lucifer said nothing, he could remember the feeling that those words had ignited in him; it had been new, unfamiliar, and he had to wonder was if that feeling was the love that God had forbade His children. The only thing he could think to do with such a feeling then was to claim ownership over it, like he had with everything else important in his life. His eyes dropped to Azreal, her back rose and fell with each short gasp and by the time he looked back up Alexiel was halfway into the darkness of the long passages before them; heading to the very center of Eden.

"Azreal." He watched her breathing abruptly stop when he spoke and her head turned slightly to his boots. "We have to hurry." She sat up on her knees, hanging her head into her hands until a hand touched the crown of her head. Lucifer felt her body lock-up as she fought the instinct to move and her hands dropped to her sides, his fingers traced to her temple as she looked up at him.

"I didn't ask you to do that..." Her words weren't half as concise as she would have liked.

"You didn't have to." Azreal's eyes fell from his and after a brief moment she reached for his hand, prying Tenkahane from him and getting to her feet. He followed and in silence they found the center of Eden. It was a sterile white room, cold air was continuously being pumped into the space in order to keep the large machinery in it as cool as possible. The fibrous collection of pale roots contained inside the floor to ceiling glass vial writhed slightly as the pupil of the eye fixed at the bottom constricted, watching without understanding as Alexiel swung Nanatsusaya across the mass of energy devouring stems. The pressure in the room changed as the humid air inside the tube and Alexiel's real power escaped. The wound that had killed the Messiah healed, along with the wrist, and his broken lip and nose; Alexiel's powers had restored him completely. A tremor from deep underground shook the room, sending large fissures along the walls and across Eden; signalling the island's destruction.

"With the core of Eden gone this paradise is falling apart and my power has been restored." Alexiel put her hand on her hip, watching large chunks of rock fall from the ceiling. "Though its good that this place is crumbling, but it still feels like I'm killing a part of my parent." There was a despondency in her voice as hazel eyes surveyed how quickly Eden was falling apart. Lucifer said nothing, grey eyes on the dying mass of roots slowly drying out as it toppled off the dais that had contained it since the dawn of Creation.

"We have to go." Azreal frowned as she watched the path they'd entered from collapse, and she shielded her eyes as dust billowed out from the hallway.

"You helped me out of Eden and for that I am grateful, Lucifer." Alexiel raised Setsuna's palm, amassing the potency of power that only the Organic and Inorganic twins possessed. "But you have always asked too much of those around you, and it's never been my desire to help you."

†

The Garden of Eden had been expunged from the face of Creation, Alexiel had been released and she had done for her Messiah what he could never hope to accomplish. But not even she could so easily kill some of the eldest of God's children. The garden itself had half sunk into the dark sea that had isolated it from the rest of Atziluth and the Messiah and his group had left to unseal the Tower and begin their confrontation with the Creator. The waves lost their momentum and the stone ruins of the Garden groaned as they settled into place. Lucifer pushed his way through the ruins, stepping up and over a smashed column as grey eyes searched for any sign of Azreal after they'd gotten separated when the ceiling had come down on him; he brushed dust off his leathers as he walked through the mangled scenery. He found her, seated with her back to him on a slab of concrete; the sloppy twisted length of her dark hair was as thoroughly soaked as the rest of her. She didn't respond to her name and he circled around her cautiously; noting that the muscles in her body were tightly draw, giving her the hunched posture of a wounded and very dangerous animal.

"Azreal." Her breath hitched at the sound of his voice and her distant gaze drifted to a sound she didn't recognize as her name; they looked past him, not following his face as he crouched to her level.

"Azreal..." Lucifer frowned, at least the first time he'd said her name she'd shown some response. He tried again, placing his hands on the cold metal of her armored legs. He grew agitated each time her name failed to stir anything inside her, then the biting hardness in his tone changed into concern as again that small restless voice told him that he'd gone too far.

"Azreal look at me, please!" Fingertips brushed at the drops of water on her cheek, and he froze as her eyes found his again. The corset beneath her feathered coat creaked with each labored breath and her fingers wove together as she blankly looked at him, blinking rapidly as her pupils shifted between dilated and constricted.

"I..." Her features contorted as the words were lost in the haze of her thoughts. "Haven't I..." Whatever she was trying to say was lost as she began hyperventilating.

"Breathe." He ordered, rolling his thumb gently against her cheekbones. She tried and he continued to coax deep relieving breathes out of her. Finally the strain in her body disappears and her cold hands covered as much of his as they could, pale eyes dropping to his chest.

"Haven't I..." The words left a sour taste in her mouth, honesty was not as sweet as the lies they had told each other, and it was outright rotten compared to the ones they'd held against themselves. "Haven't I earned your devotion?" It was a simple question, with a simple answer; yes or no.

"You've had it." He says, the same honest taste burns at his trachea; but it wasn't a complete lie. "But if I had given it all to you then..." Azreal cringed beneath his hands, there were worse circumstances than the one they were in; the thought of Balbero alone silenced all suspicions of a different outcome.

"I didn't want it all then..." Eden shifts beneath them, and water began to seep up and into what is left of the island; in the distance Etemenanki cut its path through the sky, disappearing far into the atmosphere.

"We have to go." Azreal tilted her head in the direction of the Tower; Lucifer released her and pulled her to her feet. He lead them to the edge of Eden's ruins, stopping only once to pick up the hilt of the katana that had cause them both different miseries. He turned the hilt over once in his hand; despite being in Katou's possession for as long as it had been the grooves in the leather wrapping hadn't changed, still fitted to his- Kira's grip.

"Come with me, Azreal." Lucifer ordered as his wings spread wide; behind him Azreal nodded, stretching and shaking out the sleek black pinions almost individually.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

After _days_ of wracking myself over the last scene I think finally managed to do it in a way that I personally felt didn't completely abolish either of their characters and allowed for a sense of- I guess briefness?

We're nearing the end of a very fast paced arc in the manga and there isn't a whole lot of time for them to work through _everything_ they need to work though.

With that said lets hope I can keep up the pace I've held for the last few months and finish the first arc of COS.


	15. Chapter 15

Coming of the Seraph

Chapter 15

†

They'd all been thrown into a different part of the Tower; realizing quickly that it wasn't bound by the linear flow of time or space, and that its very existence was dependant on a being who bent the subjective laws of His world on whims that would give credit to the most fickle of children. Rosiel and his sister had been taken directly to His presence, while ensuring that the Messiah and the Devil had been lost some unfathomable distance from the nexus of His power. Setsuna had been thrown into the lower floors, comprehending his surroundings as a warm sunlit hall filled with marble statues of mortal made angels; nothing like the actual beings God had brought into His world. Lucifer had woken up in the upper floors, in a frigid and nearly airless chamber; alone with sticky, partially dried blood on his temple from the concussive blow he'd taken upon impact.

"Lucifer!" It was Azreal's voice that made him sit up too fast, vision swimming as steel eyes swept the poorly lit windowless chamber. It was empty despite the nearness of her voice, and he reminded himself that Etemenanki had always been fond of those kinds of games.

"Azre-" It took two lungfuls of the thin air to choke out her name as he slowly got to his feet. "Azreal..." A second wave of lightheadedness struck him as he blindly slid a hand along the smooth metallic surface of one of the ice cold walls, searching for a way out. When his fingers found the seal of the door he pried it apart, catching a deep breath as oxygen and light flooded the room.

"Where are you?" Azreal said under her breath as she rounded the corner of another perfectly identical hallway of eggshell white woods and tarnished gold spiraled columns. She'd woken up in a stark white room, screaming at the memory of Sheol; trying to tear an imaginary IV out of her arm. It wasn't until she'd broken her way into the hallway that she was able to escape the delusion, taking off blindly into the myriad of hallways that comprised Etemenanki. Azreal hadn't been expecting a response from Lucifer, but had already begun to consider that she only knew one way into His chamber; and as the recollection of that endless hallway came to her so did the physical construct of the corridor. The fallen angel froze at the sight of the passage, the seemingly endless stream of white arches went on and on; reminding her that God used this hall as a way of reminding His children of all their transgressions. Azreal frowned as she paced the threshold of the passage, Lucifer hadn't shared his plan for forcing their way into God's throne room; and with no other choice or enough time to keep looking for him she trapped herself inside, looking back to find the same passage stretched out behind her.

†

"Its been a long time, Lucifel... Or rather, Lucifer." As the Creator addressed his Adversary the door at the end of the chamber opened, and Setsuna's blood ran cold as the other fallen angel stepped through. Azreal was out of breath, clutching at the black mark on her chest. The corridor had worn through most of her reason, bringing with it smell and feeling of burning flesh.

"And of course you've come all this way too, Azreal. It seems that my most arrogant children have thrown in with Rosiel." The thin curtains hiding their Maker from view shook as he spoke. "And why not...? You are at your very cores truly evil." God's attention swept over his fallen children, fully cognizant of the storms brewing in their eyes; rage that He Himself had put there. They crept closer, Lucifer bounding across the tops of the gigantic stone crosses jutting out from the shadows beneath them as Azreal slowly climbed the glittering white marble stairs. Stepping through the pool of blood and around the severed head of the young Cherub whose name had never stuck with her. Setsuna and Kurai cleared a path for the woman who'd walked out of the ruins of Eden unscatched; Azreal regarded them indifferently as she passed, stopping only when God spoke again.

"Lucifer. I know that you are unsatisfied with the fact that I made you the enemy of Heaven. But from the moment of your birth, you festered; congenitally evil and _destined_ to take up the mantle of Lord of Darkness. And I needed that evil, to allow your mortal siblings a choice in the path they walked during their brief lives. And you, as always, excelled splendidly."

"So once again." Azreal tore her eyes away from the Creator, swiveling to the man whose decision to betray Heaven had never been his to make. "For the sake of your own monstrous curiosity, and to impose your power over the world decided that evil could never win against good." Lucifer's voice filled the hollow space at almost the same measure as his Maker.

"If you knew that, then why did you insist on rebelling against me twice?" There was no inflection of surprise in His voice; even if He could understand the feeling, it was doubtful He'd feel it now. "The first time, when I shared with you your fate; you took your anger out on Alexiel and started your war. You lost, of course. But you came back to Heaven to play again, thinking you could kidnap the Organic Angel. Do you remember how much you wanted to believe that Azreal would take you from this place?" From the folds of His threaded robes He produced the Blood Crystal; aged hands rubbing the smooth surface of the gem, causing the black blood inside of it to ripple to the edges and back.

"Rosiel was carrying it. I'm surprised it hasn't broken, but that only means that you are still bound to obey the holder..." The Almighty extended a hand to His rebellious son. "Come to me, Lucifer." He ordered and the fallen angel complied without a second thought.

"I know you haven't forgotten how many eons have passed since I stripped you of your soul and power, sealing you away inside this crystal and binding you to that sword." The Creator's hand turned, taking hold of Lucifer's chin and keeping it firmly in place. "And despite my best efforts you haven't forgotten your rage and hatred for me. But you have forgotten one thing." His attention turned to Azreal, whose furious expression melted as her eyes widened; the only indication that something had changed, broken.

"I'm not the only one who's made a monster, Lucifer." Behind him Azreal's breath hitched, a short fit of a gasp that cemented the Devil in place; Setsuna widened the breadth between himself and the woman as she dug her fingers into the black feathers of her coat, scratching at the stigma beneath it. Her vision shook, doubling and tunneling as she focused on the kneeling figure before her Father. She recognized him by the contours of his leather wrapped back alone, and some distant muffled part of her remembered committing the feeling of each lean muscle beneath her hands. But it wasn't nearly enough to pull her out of the miasma that had spilled over inside her. He stood and turned to meet her panic stricken eyes, and he saw for the first time the full extent of the damage that Nanatsusaya had done; and it came out in a long petrified scream.

†

"Get away from me!" Her fear shattered into a complete frenzy as he began to descend the staircase. Azreal moved backwards, her eyes never leaving his as she twisted and tugged at the dark blue strands of her ankle length hair. She wailed incoherently; half pleading for help, half screaming for him to get away from her.

"Isn't it painful Azreal? That weight you put on yourself." God's voice intermingled with the ones inside her head, suffocating every thought completely. "Just remember child, you are the one who chose that miserable burden. And maybe I share some of the blame in that, I gave you both all that power and potential. It only makes sense that you would seek and find each other; and in the end become so terribly magnetized to one another that being together would be just as wretched as being apart." His thunderous voice brought her screams down to a momentary whimper, glossing over her broken consciousness, but ringing loud and clear to the rest of them.

"This is the...being that made the world...?" Kurai tugged on Setsuna's sleeve, cringing when Azreal's screamed picked up again.

"Azreal." Lucifer's quiet voice further intensified the distress in her screams, and the dread that seized her when her back touched the wall cut into him like steel. "Listen to me." Her entangled hands clawed through her scalp as he trapped her between himself and the wall.

"Plea-ease please stop...!" Her head fell back, as close to sobbing as he'd ever seen her; but he was waiting for the terror to mutate into violence. He leaned in closer without touching her; knowing that the last time he'd made that mistake had triggered a rage inside her that had broken his windpipe. He didn't need to look at the horrified expression in her glassy eyes to know that this would be much worse.

"Listen to _me_, Azreal. Not the voice inside your head. Not the one God put in you." He felt her hand on his chest, trembling against the warmth of his exposed chest; responding to the firmness in his tone. "Don't lose yourself this close to the end." For a long moment there was only the sound of her short gasps, and the featherlight curling of her fingers into a solid fist.

"You must understand now how futile it is to stand against me." As the Creator spoke; Azreal let out another wretched scream, striking Lucifer hard in the chest. He landed on his back, halfway to the top as Setsuna's attention left the fallen angels.

"Fallen humans, fallen angels. Those who strike at me are fools, and now Lucifer has finally learned that." Azreal climbed the stairs as Lucifer stood, silver eyes like knives as she closed in on him, scowling at the smallest hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

"I refuse!" Setsuna's knuckles went white as he stiffly turned to the Creator. "I refuse to accept a God who feels _nothing_ for His creations! What kind of future can we have with a being who has never experienced pain or suffering or even happiness!? So enough of you! WE DON'T NEED YOU! We'll decide our destinies for ourselves!" Azreal's second attack landed Lucifer just a few steps from God and the Messiah.

"It was you foolish children who forgot your Father!" The Creator sat forward, expression and tone furious at the defiance in Setsuna's voice. "I will show you the fate of those who oppose me!" Azreal charged, taking the steps two at a time as Lucifer pulled himself up and around, facing the Creator. Tenkahane ripped through the delicate silk as the Devil's infernal acrid smoke and Azreal's sword pierced what would have served as His chest.

"Impossible..." His last words were wasted on surprise, coming out in a hiss as His eyes glossed over His murderers. The sound of blood rushing through her head drowned out the rest of the world as Azreal retracted her sword, watching their Maker's body convulse and finally erupt in black bony appendages as His hand fractured the Blood Crystal. Wide-eyed she watched it clatter to the ground, flinching when Lucifer's boot smashed the stone and she read the word 'fake' on his lips as he told Setsuna about his original intentions.

"You... tricked Him...You fooled God..." The Messiah mumbled, horrified dark eyes on the maimed body of the Almighty. Azreal's eyes fell to her sword, there was no blood or divine ichor; and the thought prickled in the back of her skull.

"Rebellious children like us, killing their parent. Its painfully appropriate don't you think?" Storm gray eyes darted briefly to the woman beside him, there was concern knitted into her expression. "That is why I pretended to serve Rosiel, just to be able to stand here at this moment; to be the one that killed you, _Father_." The Creators body began to decompose, melting down along with the thick black antlers into a fatty mess that sent Rosiel into a wordless panic as he threw himself into the dissolved remains of their Maker.

"Something isn't right..." Azreal whispered as Setsuna returned to his senses, yelling wildly at the Inorganic Angel.

"We aren't done yet." Lucifer's wings shook with frustration that was lost in his voice.

"My children, whom I love..." The near solid apparition of the Adam Kadmon filled the entirety of the chamber before them, its genderless face was soft and warm; vaguely motherly in a way that made the oldest celestial beings uncomfortable. "With the fall of God, I am free."

†

"Lucifer... That can't be-" Azreal hissed as the Messiah's sister appeared in Adam Kadmon's spooned palm, looking like she was lost in a deep restless sleep. Lucifer's hand wrapped around her forearm, squeezing for silence as he intently watched the angel's projection. The race of angels had never gone a day of their existences without knowing about the Seraphita, the being that they figuratively and unknowingly literally owed their lives to. Though that figure had always been portrayed as tender, loving, and kind; but then so had their Creator and the thought was silenced instantly.

"Its difficult to believe that a tiny insect like this one could actually sustain life." Large fingers prodded at the stomach of Jibriel's vessel, a gentle motherly expression melting into ugliness.

"Be ready." Lucifer warned, grey eyes narrowing as the spirit of the Holy Hermit glitched; in that fraction of a second screaming pained and pupiless faces stretched from the astral fabric that had woven his image into reality.

"For what?" Azreal looked away as Sara jerked back into consciousness, viciously attacking the Messiah with words that could have physically torn him to shreds if it wasn't for the abrupt and enraged scream coming out of the Inorganic Angel. Rosiel's three white wings stretched and strained around him as the wires of his unnatural astral power erupted from beneath them. Only the Adam Kadmon's deafening laughter cut through Rosiel's relentless sobbing.

"He has finally awakened. The Angel of Destruction that hates everything in this world!" Manic glee stretched an insane smile on the Seraphita's face, while all around them thick dark wires spread across the walls and wrapped around the large stone crosses pulverizing them to dust with no effort.

"Now." Lucifer jerked her arm as the ceiling began to collapsed, and they sprinted across the platform to the opening forming above them. He pulled her with him into the air, releasing her only when Michael's voice cut through the roaring destruction around them. Lucifer didn't ignore the frantic urgency in his twin brother's voice, facing his opposite completely and meeting desperate teal eyes.

"I have to settle this with my own hands." Michael hadn't expected to receive Lucifer's complete attention, and his vision shook at his heartbeat went into overdrive. "You... and everyone else misunderstood what I was trying to accomplish." Michael felt his chest tighten with every breath, and the great flaming sword in his hand died out as he lowered it back to his side.

"Michael, you are the Child of Light, and I can only laugh at those who ever thought differently. I know you came here to kill me. But you're unable to do so, and I'm unwilling to fight you. Soon there will be no need for you to continue to chase after me, and I'll let you decide where we stand the next time we meet." Neither one of them said anything in the brief split second granted to them, and Michael found it surprising that he could so easily read into the brazen grin stretched across his brother's face.

"Regardless of what you choose. I'll be looking forward to it."

"Lucif-" Michael inhaled, blinking through fresh and scorching tears so that they didn't blur the image of his brother as he disappeared into the enveloping darkness that would always take his brother out of reach. "BROTHER!"

†

"Are you both really so eager to dance around like puppets in my hands? You're new God is happy to oblige this foolishness." The Seraphita rubbed the remnants of Rosiel's crystal heart between thumb and forefinger, dangerous eyes wandering between the fallen angels as the wall beneath them settled with a loud and metallic crunch. "You above all others should know better."

"You are _not_ the Adam Kadmon." Azreal said with a glare, stepping into the server room that Creation had come to refer to as Heaven's Tablet.

"No, my wicked wicked children I am not. You did not actually think you could kill me that easily did you?" The smile on the Holy Hermits face coiled into depravity as the six-winged angel shook its hands free of crystalline dust.

"So you used the image of our mother to escape the first time, thinking that we'd let you just leave." Storm grey eyes remained trained on the angel as it began to once again glitch, its motions choppy and repetitious.

"Mother!?" Azreal spat in disbelief, pale eyes searching Lucifer for an answer. "We don't have a mother..."

"We are the blood of our Father and the flesh of our Mother." Lucifer said in a tone that told her now wasn't the time for explanations.

"If that _thing_ is our mother... then..." Consuming the flesh of their progenitor meant that angels were born with sin; and damned from the very moment of their conception. The thought died in Azreal's throat as the doors on the far side of the room slid open and the young and addled figure of Sara Mudou shuffled into the room, bleeding fingers clutching at the hem of her powder blue dress.

"The Messiah's sister...?" Azreal's thin brows arched in confusion as the girl's clouded amber eyes locked onto the figures across the enormous space.

"Sandalphon's powers and the Creator's consciousness, inside a miniscule human girl." A mechanical voice caused the spirit of Adam Kadmon to shut off, snapping off with a screeching electrical flare. The automaton left in the Seraphita's place was several stories worth of cold brushed steel, and the cyan lights in the eyes of the pearlescent white face of the YHWH collective flickered to life. Sara moved, with all the speed and strength of a child possessed by God, grabbing the Devil's arm, and with a roll of her wrist she flung him into the nearest wall. The girl ducked and turned, hurling a portion of a broken steel girder into Azreal who'd hardly had time to take a step in the moving girl's direction.

"Stop it." Lucifer ordered as Azreal stood, sword brandished and watching Sara's eyes move slowly between them.

"That isn't Sara Mudou anymore!" She snarled as Jibriel's vessel jerked her fingers, launching wall debris at the fallen angels. "There is nothing left of the woman the Messiah loved!" Azreal rushed forward as she sidestepped the larger portion of steel and computer hardware. It was Lucifer's hand that locked onto her wrist, partially turning her body towards his as Sara's fingers twitched harder; and a sound they distantly recognized as thick snapping cable was lost in the furious tone of Azreal's voice.

"She is trying to-" Lucifer frowned when she went silent, following her suddenly wide colorless eyes to her chest in time to watch a large broken off length of thick wire run its course through the side of her ribcage. Azreal's eyes traced the electrical cord to the Messiah's sister as it snapped back out a moment later, and the force of the retraction staggered her to one side as blood splashed at her feet. For a brief second she felt the pressure of Lucifer's hands on her side, guiding her to the ground as the feelings in her limbs disappeared.

"Don't." Lucifer ordered when she tried to speak, coughing droplets of blood across his face as her impaled lungs filled with fluid. Her eyes flicked to his as her head lulled back

"Don't." He said more sternly as he tipped her head forward; and again when her already numb fingers smeared blood, warm and wet down his neck before falling limply to her lap.

"Azreal. Don't." The creeping darkness in her vision did nothing to keep the image of his face from carving itself into her final moments. She had never imagined, nor wanted to even think him capable of such underlying misery; while at the same time knowing that no one else would have seen what she was seeing. They would have only seen the same frustrating blankness that had always made up his features, and the sound of metal wall sliding across the floor screamed into the last of her senses as she told herself how much worse that had hurt.

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

I honestly never thought I'd make it here!

But we aren't done yet so obligatory thank you's and the like will be in the shortest epilogue ever xD


	16. Epilogue

Coming of the Seraph

Epilogue

†

Lucifer was uninjured, the damage that Sara Mudou had dealt him under the influence of Sandalphon had healed while Setsuna had exorcised the consciousness of the angelic monster from his lover's body. He wasn't sure exactly how he'd made it out of the crumbling tower, only knowing that she- that her body had slipped out of sight when the floor of the Tablet Room had given out. On hands and knees he finally succumbed to exhaustion, allowing his senses to dull just enough to let his imagination get away with him; and when the white noise in his head was too loud to tolerate he opened his eyes again. Lucifer found his hands tangled in excruciatingly familiar strands of dark cerulean hair.

"Azreal..." He whispered on an exhale as his eyes traced the seemingly endless length of her hair to the naked figure that was too far away to have heard her name so quietly. Lucifer stood, untwisting the mess around his fingers and wrists as he stumbled towards and around her kneeling figure. Silver eyes were staring off into the nothingness around them with misery scrawled plainly on her face, a pain that his imagination had perfectly replicated from the last time he'd seen her as an angel.

"You're alone." Her voice was so quiet and stricken as his hand ghosts over the high swell of her cheekbone; he knew, just knew that if he laid a hand on her his hallucination would disappear. He nodded at her words, unable to speak as she drove the knife that was that fact through him. He wished she'd been cruel, that she'd spit in his face with a wicked laugh while telling him that that was only thing she ever wanted.

"Not even you deserve that..." Her eyes found him, the perfectly mimicked expression of her devastation reminded him of the last moments he'd had as himself eons ago, that image hadn't made it through the punishment their Creator had inflicted.

He was certain that if it had it would have made for a much greater torment. Their eyes never disconnected as she stood, shifting the immeasurable length of dark hair around her tall thin frame. A hand reached for his, and he shook his head, fighting every fiber of his being that wanted to feel her cool skin beneath his hands.

"You'll go." He said breathlessly, snatching his hand away as his continence betrayed the sharp stab of anxiousness in his voice.

In place of speaking she only gave him a soft sad smile that told him she was already gone and that he knew that. She stepped towards him on tiptoes, tilting her head up as her lips hovered under his.

"Tell me that you love me." Her request carved the memory of her lips against his, silver eyes shut as her lips pantomimed a smile that he had always considered his.

A smile that had been there the first time they'd met, the first time they'd returned from a mission successfully. The same bright grin that had been there after the torture of sprouting fresh new wings had passed. The one she'd given him when he'd extended his 2nd chair to her; even back then they had all been his.

"And only me." She was gone the moment his hand touched the back of her neck, unraveling back into the deepest recesses of his mind.

Lucifer realized as his surroundings slowly crept back into place around him, that his hallucination had been cruel. Agonizingly unkind in a way that had scored itself into the marrow of his bones, that would devote every second of the rest of his existence to another woman that would not and now could not stay with him.

†

_Game Over  
or  
_▶_ Continue?  
_

* * *

**Afterthoughts**

So I've never done this before, but obviously a big big thank you goes out to you, the reader. If you hadn't taken an interest in my little baby here I probably would have never finished it.

Also if you fucking called it, then I'm 1) sorry it happened and 2) not sorry cause its not my fault its Lucifer's :/

Now I'm gonna have a good long cry over killing my baby girl and kickstart the next installment in the face. So be prepared and come check out my teaser over on the COS tumblr that is/will be tagged as #'teaser'. If you don't know about the COS tumblr then the handle is comingoftheseraph all one word.

Okay enough shameless self promotion, see you soon!


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